HRANA News Agency – Salar Taher Afshar, an Azerbaijani-Turk activist, was arrested yesterday, February 18, in Urmia by the Ministry of Intelligence.

A source close to his family told HRANA: “Around noon on Tuesday, intelligence agents arrived at Mr. Taherafshar’s workplace with two vehicles and arrested him. A few hours later, he informed his family by phone that he is set to be transferred from the Intelligence Detention Facility in Urmia to Tabriz in the coming days.”

As of the time of this report, the reasons for his arrest and the charges against him remain unknown.

Taher Afshar had previously been sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals in January 2025 on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

He was first arrested on February 6, 2024, in Urmia and later transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. He was released on February 28, 2024, on bail.