HRANA – Two citizens have been arrested in Gilan Province on allegations of espionage.

According to ISNA, the Gilan provincial police commander claimed that the individuals had filmed sensitive locations, including military, law enforcement, and government facilities, and allegedly sent the footage to an Iranian citizen residing in Germany.

The commander, without revealing the identities of the detainees, stated that the suspects—aged 28 and 43—were apprehended by officers from the Intelligence Organization of the provincial police.

Official media outlets have since released a video purportedly showing the “forced confessions” of the two individuals. In the footage, recorded under unknown circumstances, the detainees admit to the alleged activities and express remorse.

While espionage itself is not considered a human rights violation, the Iranian government’s longstanding use of such accusations to suppress dissent raises serious concerns. Given the lack of transparency and due process, such claims are frequently met with skepticism by human rights observers.

In 2024, HRANA documented 28 cases of forced confessions extracted from prisoners. The practice of obtaining and broadcasting coerced confessions from political dissidents and protesters by the Iranian regime’s security apparatus is as old as the regime itself. In 2022, amid nationwide protests, the number of such forced confessions surged to 391 cases.