Iran’s civil society is facing a new wave of repression, as authorities have arrested prominent critics, shuttered one of the country’s oldest child welfare organizations, and intensified a crackdown on independent voices. The events, which unfolded over the past month in Tehran and other cities, have sent shockwaves through activist circles and drawn condemnation from international human rights groups.
On November 3, 2025, Iranian security forces carried out coordinated raids across Tehran, arresting three government critics: Parviz Sedaghat, a 61-year-old journalist; Mahsa Asadollahnejad, a sociologist; and Shirin Karimi, a translator. According to the private, pro-reform Shargh daily, authorities also confiscated electronic devices belonging to Mohammad Maljou, a 53-year-old economist, and summoned him for questioning by security officials. After Maljou voluntarily left his home to comply, there was no further information about his whereabouts, raising concerns among colleagues and supporters. As The Times of Israel noted, these four individuals are known leftist critics of Iran’s theocratic system, and this marks the first collective detention of leftist researchers in recent years.
Official and semi-official Iranian media have remained silent on the arrests, but the news has spread rapidly through independent outlets and social media. In his last public statement on Telegram before his disappearance, Maljou urged Iranians to oppose the country’s “war and isolation” and called for the dissolution of what he described as Iran’s “undemocratic” theocracy. The message has since been widely circulated among reformist and activist groups.
This crackdown comes on the heels of a turbulent summer, when, in June 2025, Israel launched a 12-day air war against Iran, targeting top military leaders, nuclear scientists, and uranium enrichment sites. Nearly 1,100 Iranians were killed in the strikes, including dozens of military commanders and nuclear experts, according to reports cited by the Associated Press. The United States also bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during the conflict. The aftermath of the war has left Iran’s economy in a tailspin, with further collapse reported this year. Despite the mounting crisis, the theocratic government has yet to take significant action to address the country’s economic woes.
In a parallel development, the Iranian authorities have escalated their campaign against civil society organizations. On October 15, 2025, security forces arrested Hossein Mirbahari, a founding member and leading child rights defender of the Society for the Protection of Child Laborers and Street Children. Mirbahari was apprehended at his sister’s home in Tehran and has since been held without charge, denied access to his family and lawyer, and his whereabouts remain unknown. The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reports that Mirbahari’s physical condition is precarious, as he is recovering from chemotherapy and was reportedly ill with a severe cold at the time of his arrest.
The same day, security agents sealed the Society’s office and confiscated equipment and communication devices, effectively halting its operations. The organization, which had operated legally and transparently since its founding in 2002, received no prior warning before being forcibly closed. The closure has left thousands of vulnerable children without support at the start of the school year. “Many of the children supported by the organization will now be left without assistance. Some had not yet managed to enroll in school, and the staff were in the process of helping them. With the office sealed and members intimidated, no one is left to follow up on their cases,” a source told CHRI.
Mirbahari’s arrest is not his first encounter with state repression. He was previously detained on June 20, 2025, and spent 30 days in solitary confinement before being released on bail, again without lawful cause or disclosed charges. Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI, condemned the government’s actions: “Mirbahari’s unlawful arrest and the closing of the organization mirror the Islamic Republic’s dismantling of other NGOs, and reflect its intensifying drive to wipe out independent civil society organizations. It also showcases the lawless thuggery of the regime; it can arrest people without cause or charge, drag them into undisclosed detainment, and hold them there incommunicado—because it fears any independent societal activities, no matter how vital a role they play.”
The Society for the Protection of Child Laborers and Street Children was a lifeline for working and street children across Iran, providing educational programs, health services, psychological support, and advocacy for social protections such as child and family insurance coverage. The organization’s closure comes amid a worsening crisis of child labor and street children in Iran. Estimates suggest that between 1.5 and 7 million children are engaged in labor nationwide, with up to 200,000 street children, mostly in urban centers. In 2023, Iran’s Parliamentary Research Center reported that 15% of the country’s children were engaged in labor, and a Tehran City Council member cited 70,000 child laborers in the capital alone. The true numbers are likely higher due to underreporting and the prevalence of undocumented child laborers.
Conditions for these children are dire. Many work long hours in hazardous environments such as waste collection, street vending, workshops, and brick kilns. Some, as Deputy Justice Minister Ali Kazemi revealed in February 2024, even sleep in Tehran’s metro stations during winter. In smaller cities, the problem is no less acute: Yasuj, with a population of 135,000, has identified 337 child laborers and street children this year alone, according to local welfare officials.
Iranian law theoretically prohibits child labor under the age of 15, but enforcement is weak and loopholes abound. Small workplaces are often exempt from state labor regulations, and there is little oversight from authorities. Internationally, Iran is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Labor Organization’s Fundamental Principles, both of which strictly forbid child labor. The forced closure of the Society and the arrest of its founder are seen as blatant violations of these obligations, as well as of Iran’s commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects freedom of assembly, association, and expression.
The targeting of the Society for the Protection of Child Laborers and Street Children is not an isolated incident. In recent years, Iranian authorities have systematically dismantled civil society organizations. The Imam Ali Popular Student Relief Society, which had worked for two decades on poverty and child protection, was dissolved in March 2021. The Khaneh Khorshid, a drug addiction treatment center for women, was shuttered in 2022, and the Mehre Shams Afarid safe house for vulnerable women and children was closed in 2024.
International bodies have responded with growing alarm. CHRI has called on the United Nations, UNICEF, and the European Union to demand Mirbahari’s immediate release and the reopening of the Society. “The EU, which has helped fund UNICEF’s work in Iran, should also speak out against these unlawful actions that endanger children’s advocates and the children they seek to protect,” said Ghaemi. UNICEF, for its part, has stated its intention to work with civil society organizations in Iran, but the government’s crackdown threatens to render such partnerships impossible.
As Iran’s economic and social crises deepen, the space for independent activism and humanitarian work is shrinking fast. The government’s recent actions have not only silenced critical voices but also left the country’s most vulnerable—its children—without much-needed support. The fate of those detained, and the future of civil society in Iran, remain uncertain.
