No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention

The agents of the Islamic Republic engage in the routine practice of arresting the relatives of political activists, either as hostages until the suspects are found, or to apply pressure on individuals already in prison.

"The Revolutionary Guards came to our home in in Isphahan. They were looking for my husband but had no warrant with them and my husband had already managed to leave the country. When they couldn't find my husband they said that they just wanted to take me for a couple of hours to ask me a few questions. My father and younger sister, aged 19, were taken along too, but they were released after six hours. I remained in prison for 14 months..." From the wife of a suspected political activist.

There have been cases where the suspect's wife has been sentenced to years of imprisonment, being eligible for parole only upon the finding of her husband. There have also been cases where entire families were rounded up:

"The Revolutionary Guards came to our home and searched it. My father, mother, sister and younger brother were there and they locked them in a room together. When I got home my brother had also just returned and neither of us knew what was going on. Our house had a cellar and they took the two of us there and beat us up. There were 10 or 12 of them. Then they took the whole family to the Revolutionary Guards headquarters in Orumiyeh..." 

Many are taken into custody from their homes "to answer some questions, which may require their presence for a few hours." Once they are taken in, however, they may be held by the Guards for many months, or even years. It could take weeks, or months before the detainees are even told the reason for their arrest. People can get arrested simply because their names have been mentioned under torture by friends, relatives or colleagues. There are even cases where people have been arrested by mistake because their names were similar to those of political activists sought by the Revolutionary Guards.

It is not uncommon for families to search for a "missing" relative for months, going from Revolutionary Guard Centers and Komitehs, to various prisons and detention centers all over the town. When the authorities cannot deny that someone is being held at a particular center, the Islamic Guards resort to insulting the family members of the detainees, warning them not to make inquiries, by threatening them to face the consequence of being imprisoned themselves.