Mehdi Beik, the political editor of Tehran-based Etemad newspaper, had not been heard of since Monday after he went to central Tehran to report from the field on gatherings by bazaar merchants, his wife said on Tuesday.
The newspaper later announced that Beik had been arrested by security forces on Monday and was released a few hours ago.
At least five students were arrested on Tuesday during protests in Tehran, according to student Telegram channels.
Mobin Aminian, an undergraduate student in chemical engineering; Shahin Shokouhi, a PhD student in sociology; Aref Hadi-Nejad, an undergraduate student in philosophy; and Mani Eidi, an undergraduate student in philosophy, were arrested outside the University of Tehran campus in downtown Tehran.
Abolfazl Morovvati, a graduate student in computer engineering at Sharif University of Technology, was also arrested by security forces.
Iranian reformist figure Behdad Nabavi said in an interview published Tuesday that reform means peaceful, legal change within the current system, while acknowledging that the process has become so difficult it could take decades.
In comments to Jamaran, Nabavi said reformism does not seek to overthrow the system or use illegal or violent methods.
“Reformism means changing the existing situation to a desirable one through a legal and peaceful path,” he said. “It does not want to overthrow the system.”
He said reformists aim to move the country toward what they define as a better outcome “within this same structure” and through “calm and legal” methods.
Nabavi added that he has concluded the reform path is now “very winding” and difficult, arguing that today’s young people have little tolerance for a gradual process.
“It may take 50 years,” he said, describing a slow legal route that, in his view, struggles to meet the urgency of public expectations.
