Iranian security forces have taken a woman hostage until her son, a student activist, turns himself in.
Monday, January 15, 2018, security forces raided the residence of Omid Aghdami, a student activist at the University of Tabriz, a poet and a children’s rights activist. They took his mother, Akram Imamgholizadeh, to room 37 of Tabriz’s Prison and said they would keep her in detention until her son reports in to the Intelligence Department.
Omid Aghdami is presently in Turkey. His mother suffers from heart complications.
In an open letter, Mr. Aghdami has protested the regime’s security forces’ intimidation of his mother and taking her hostage. In turn, he has threatened to set himself ablaze outside the Iranian embassy in Ankara, if anything happens to his mother. He said this is the second time his mother has been summoned to Tabriz’s Prison.
The clerical regime’s Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) takes hostage relatives as a common practice to get a hold of dissident activists.
