New York, February 2, 2026— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Vida Rabbani and to end the ongoing crackdown on journalists.
Mahmoudian and Rabbani were arrested after signing a statement, alongside other Iranian journalists and activists, expressing their support of the recent mass protests across the country, according to a January 31 post on X by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. The statement accused the government of using “inflation, poverty, insecurity, corruption, and injustice as tools of repression,” and argued the demonstrations represent “the national will to remove the illegitimate regime of the Islamic Republic.”
“The arrest of journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Vida Rabbani for signing a peaceful public statement underscores how Iranian authorities continue to criminalize journalism and civic expression,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Iran must immediately disclose where these journalists are being held, clarify the legal basis for their detention, and unconditionally release them.”
Iranian officials have not publicly commented on the arrests or disclosed the legal basis for the detentions, according to the Iraqi-Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
According to the Iranian news outlet Emtedad, security officials contacted Rabbani’s mother and said that she was “in good condition,” but Rabbani herself has refused to make a phone call, raising concerns that she may have begun a protest hunger strike. The outlet reported that Rabbani was detained while traveling and is currently being held at the Sari Intelligence Detention Center located in the provincial capital of Mazandaran.
Both journalists are former political prisoners, who have been repeatedly targeted by Iranian authorities for their work. Mahmoudian served a five-year prison sentence from 2009 to 2014 for exposing abuses at the Kahrizak detention center and was imprisoned again in August 2021 before his release in September 2025.
Rabbani, a freelance journalist who wrote for reformist outlets including Shargh Daily, was arrested on September 24, 2022, for covering mass protests and was conditionally released in April 2025.
Since nationwide protests began in late December, at least four other journalists — Hassan Abbasi, Artin Ghazanfari, Hamed Araghi, and Navid Zarrehbin Irani — have been arrested and remain behind bars in Iran
According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iran’s crackdown has resulted in at least 6,842 deaths, including 6,425 protesters and 146 children, with 11,280 additional deaths under review, while at least 42,324 people have been arrested amid widespread internet shutdowns that have restricted independent reporting and verification.
CPJ’s email to the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York requesting comment did not receive a response.