Iran arrests activist again after her X post blames ‘religious despotism’

Iranian student activist Motahareh Gounei was re-arrested after posting criticism of Iran’s leadership on X.

Freed from prison in March, she wrote: “This hell may have many fueling its flames, but it was built by one devil alone: religious despotism.”

Gounei, a final-term dental student at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, had previously been barred from continuing her studies.