Iran: PMOI Announces Over 50,000 Arrests During Uprising

Mrs. Rajavi: The massacre of young people and the widespread arrests are a sign of Khamenei’s desperation in the face of the people’s uprising. He will stop at no crime to preserve the regime. A call for urgent action to release the detainees and for visits to Iran’s prisons.

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has announced that the number of individuals arrested during the nationwide uprising from December 28, 2025, to January 14, 2026, exceeds 50,000. Arrests and detentions are ongoing, often conducted through surprise raids on homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces.

This statistic was compiled from detailed investigations in 144 cities and inquiries in 76 others, drawing on information from eyewitnesses, families, local sources, and prisoners. While many individuals arrested indiscriminately on-site were subsequently released, their exact numbers remain unknown.

Obtaining precise and complete statistics is only possible through an international fact-finding mission with access to all prisons and detention centers of the ruling religious dictatorship in Iran.

Notably, on May 6, 2025, the regime’s Judiciary Chief, Gholam-Hossein Eje’i, admitted after two and a half years that during the 2022 uprising (1401 in the Iranian calendar), ‘something around 90,000 cases’ were filed. He specified that these involved ‘students, university students, teachers, women, men… from other classes, different segments of society, workers, and so on’.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, described the killing of youths and the widespread arrests as indicative of Khamenei’s desperation in the face of the popular uprising. She stated that Iran’s criminal rulers will stop at no crime to preserve the disgraceful rule of the Velayat-e Faqih (clerical supremacy) and that their cruelty and brutality know no bounds. Mrs. Rajavi urged the international community to take immediate action to secure the release of the detainees and demanded an urgent visit by an international fact-finding delegation to Iran’s prisons.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

January 15, 2026