The political, security, and social deputy governor of Khorasan Razavi province, Hassan Jafari, claimed that the arrests of 14 civil rights activists in Mashhad has, in fact, nothing to do with their letter to the leader in which they called for his resignation and transition from the Islamic Republic regime, and “it was due to their connection with anti-regime groups abroad.”

Jafari said on Friday that these 14 people, 12 men, and 2 women, “had gathered in front of the courthouse in Mashhad to plan and achieve their goals.”

While noting that 5 of these activists live in Mashhad, Jafari asked: “Our question is, why did the rest of them come to Mashhad, and what was the reason behind their gathering in this city?” He added: “They were arrested in an effort to prevent any disruptions caused by them.”

The Intelligence office of the province released a statement claiming “a new anti-revolutionary conspiracy in Mashhad,” and announced that several of the arrested individuals were “trying to provoke different groups in the society including the war veterans, disabled veterans, ethnicities, and religions and inflame the society through their connections with the anti-regime media and satellite channels abroad.”

The statement continued: “The arrested individuals were on the mission to radicalize the critical candidates near the parliamentary elections by making planned contacts and use the open political space (near the election) to create chaos and riots and push the agenda of the enemies of the Iranian people.

The 14 civil rights activists wrote a letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, calling for his resignation and transition from the Islamic Republic regime which they consider responsible for “systemic tyranny and incompetence”.

The arrested activists are still in Intelligence jail and have no access to an attorney or family visitation.