Iranian authorities are still holding Arashk Gheysar-Beygi, a 15-year-old high-school student, in the Juvenile Detention Centre of Ilam, Ilam Province, without any charges.
According to an informed source, the child was subjected to physical and mental torture during his interrogation at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre, which has left him in an inappropriate mental state.
The authorities have informed Gheysar-Beygi’s family that their child will only be released if his older brother, Arshia Gheysar-Beygi, is turned in to the intelligence ministry.
The source revealed that during the interrogation, security forces blindfolded the child for long hours, subjected him to electric shocks, and physically abused him. As a result of this torture, he was forced to make false confessions against himself.
Arashk Gheysar-Beygi was arrested after he was summoned to appear in court in Sarableh, Ilam province, on 29 June. He was arrested on the prosecutor’s orders and transferred to Juvenile Detention Centre of Ilam after appearing in court with his father.
Security forces also attempted to arrest the family’s 17-year-old son, Arshia Gheysar-Beygi, but were unsuccessful as he was not at home during a raid on 30 June.
The detained child is taken daily to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in the city and returned at night.
Arashk Gheysar-Beygi had previously been summoned by the Sarableh police intelligence service on multiple occasions last year.
His brother, Arshia Gheysar-Beygi, was arrested by security forces in October 2022 during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising in Sarableh and released after ten days in prison.
Last month, the Ministry of Intelligence in Ilam launched a new round of arrests in the city on the pretext that people were holding anti-government protests in the city as part of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising.
Six civilians, including Mehrad Gheysar-Beygi, the uncle of the detained child, were arrested during this period.
