Yashar Dar al-Shafa, a social researcher, leftist activist, and former political prisoner who had been detained since May/June 2026, was released today.
Dar al-Shafa was arrested by security forces on the morning of Monday, June 1, at his family home and transferred to an undisclosed location. According to reports, plainclothes agents broke down the door to enter the residence before taking him into custody.
Dar al-Shafa has faced multiple prior arrests. He was detained twice during the protests following the 2009 presidential election, first on November 4, 2009, and again in February 2010, eventually serving a five-year prison sentence.
During the November 2019 protests, security forces arrested him at a friend’s home in Tehran. In August 2022, he and his brother, Kaveh Dar al-Shafa, a music instructor, were arrested to serve prison sentences and transferred to Evin Prison. Both brothers were present in Evin during the October 2022 fire and were subsequently transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison alongside several other political prisoners.
