During the raid, security agents confiscated Aryani’s personal belongings and mistreated her father. Aryani called her family later that day to say that she was being held on a complaint filed by the Guidance Prosecutor’s Office.

Mother’s arrest

Aryani’s mother Mnireh Arabshahi was in the flood-stricken city of Mamulan, Lorestan Province, to provide relief to the flood survivors when she heard about her daughter’s arrest and rushed back.

Arabshahi visited the Vozara detention centre on April 11 to follow up Aryani’s status and was reportedly arrested.

Aryani announced on April 8 that the Ministry of Guidance had banned her from performing in a play called “Actors’ Studio” at Malek Theater in Tehran, but it is not known if this relates to her arrest.

Previous arrest

Aryani had only recently been released from prison following her peaceful protest during the Iranian uprising last year.

Aryani, 23, and several other activists were arrested on August 2, 2018, for attending a protest in front of Daneshjoo park in Tehran. They were taken to Qarchak prison, but during their ride in the back of a State Security Force van, the young detainees posted a video on social media about their experience and called for help.

At the time thousands of protesters poured into Iranian cities to protest the country’s dire economic problems, including skyrocketing inflation, hardship and hiking prices, which the people said were the result of 40 years of mismanagement and corruption by the Iranian Regime.

Aryani and four other women were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment at the notorious Evin Prison for “disrupting the public order” and were released from Evin Prison on February 13, 2019. Following her release, Aryani and fellow detained Saba Afshari explained that “being pardoned” was just a show by the regime officials and detailed the condition of the prison as well as the regime’s crimes against incarcerated women.

The Iranian Regime has faced thousands of protests since December 2017, largely started by economic problems. However, the people soon began to reveal other issues, like human rights abuses, environmental damage, and the pursuit of nuclear weapons, which led to the resounding cry that the solution to all of Iran’s problems was regime change.