Selective Releases Amid Ongoing Detentions Following the January Crackdown
Several prominent reformist political figures detained in connection with the January protests have been released on bail, even as many others remain in custody and investigations continue.
Several prominent reformist political figures detained in connection with the January (Dey) protests have been released on bail, even as many others remain in custody and investigations continue. According to the Telegram channel of the Reformist Front of Iran, Azar Mansouri, head of the coalition, has been released from Evin Prison on bail, though the amount has not been disclosed. Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Javad Emam were also released after posting bail.
Mansouri had been arrested last Sunday along with several other activists. The following day, security forces detained Javad Emam, the spokesperson of the Reformist Front. Hours later, Ali Shakourirad, a reformist political activist and former member of parliament, was arrested after publishing remarks criticizing the January 18–19 crackdown.
Hojjat Kermani, a defense attorney, stated that the complainant in the cases of Azar Mansouri and Javad Emam is the public prosecutor in the Tehran prosecutor’s office. He explained that both cases remain in the preliminary investigation phase, and that no formal charges have yet been publicly detailed. He further noted that, unlike Mansouri and Emam—whose cases are being handled by a security court—Shakouri-Rad’s case is under review by the Culture and Media Court, and his file also remains under investigation without an officially-announced charge.
The judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, confirmed that the Tehran prosecutor filed charges against several of these individuals, accusing them of organizing and leading extensive coordinated activities aimed at disrupting the political and social order of the country amid U.S. and Israeli military threats. Iran’s Judiciary Information Center has stated that cases related to the January protests remain under review and that none of the rulings have reached a final and enforceable stage.
Despite these recent releases, many reformist activists and civil society figures remain detained, including Ali Shakouri-Rad, Abdollah Momeni, Mehdi Mahmoudian, and Vida Rabbani. In recent days, additional reformist figures have reportedly faced house searches, summonses, and judicial pressure. While the release on bail of several reformist leaders signals a limited easing in individual cases, the broader landscape continues to reflect widespread detentions, unresolved investigations, and competing narratives about the scale and handling of the January events.
At the same time, significant discrepancies persist regarding the scale of casualties and detentions. According to data published by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), as of February 12, a total of 53,166 individuals have been arrested, 25,845 civilians have been injured, 6,506 protesters have been killed, and the overall death toll has reached 7,005, including 219 children, 214 security or government forces, and 66 non-protesting civilians. HRANA has also documented 337 cases of forced confessions and more than 11,051 summonses.
The Iranian government has officially announced that 3,117 individuals lost their lives during the unrest and has stated that it has published the names of those deceased. By contrast, HRANA and other independent monitoring organizations have not yet released comprehensive name lists corresponding to their higher reported figures, and the gap between government and independent casualty counts remains a matter of ongoing scrutiny.