Iranian Activist Says Regime Intends To Force Him Into Exile

Former political prisoner Hossein Ronaghi says the intelligence ministry has requested the Prosecutor's Office to issue an order to send him into exile.

He further noted in a tweet that he has found out that based on the order his bank accounts will be blocked and he will be deprived of his citizenship rights.

Ronaghi is an Iranian blogger, human rights activist and political dissident who was arrested on September 24. 2022, along with his lawyers in front of the Evin Prison prosecutor's office and transferred to jail where he was tortured.

In protest, Ronaghi went on a hunger strike after his arrest amid antigovernment protests and refused liquid nourishment and water.

Tehran residents rushed to the hospital in November after his brother wrote in a tweet that security agents had moved Ronaghi from prison to a hospital. He said his brother “got on an ambulance fully awake after talking to his mother,” adding “whatever happens to Hossein is nothing more than a pre-planned scenario because they intend to kill him.”

Ronaghi, 37, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, has for years been one of the most fearless critics of the Islamic Republic who has stayed in the country.

Iranian authorities on November 26 released Ronaghi on bail.

In previous rounds of torture, the dissident has lost one kidney and his second kidney is functioning at 60 percent, according to human rights sources.

Hossein Ronaghi has been arrested and jailed several times in the past 13 years. He was detained in 2009 for his role in the post-election protests. Ronaghi was arrested again in February 2022 after criticizing a bill that would limit internet access in Iran.