Financial Times:

Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Tehran Correspondent

Iranian authorities have intensified a crackdown on dissent in the wake of mass protests, launching arrests, seizing property and closing businesses connected to a range of prominent figures they have accused of fomenting the unrest.

The office of Tehran’s prosecutor-general on Tuesday said cases had been opened against 15 sports figures and actors, as well as 10 signatories of a statement issued by Cinema House, the country’s leading film industry association.

It implied they were involved in instigating the protests and said their properties would be used to compensate for damage to private and public assets if convicted.

The properties of some of those individuals have been confiscated, and state television reported about 60 cafés were identified in “direct or indirect” support of “terrorist acts”.

The judiciary on Monday also shut down Ham-Mihan, a leading reformist newspaper, following its reporting on the state of hospitals during the protests and for allegedly ignoring a previous judicial warning over an earlier report.

State media said separately that one news agency and one news website were facing charges of “publishing fake news”.

Iranian authorities say thousands were killed in the protests, which started last month over economic distress before spiralling into the most violent domestic unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Chants quickly escalated from being about economic grievances to calling for the overthrow of the Islamic republic and the removal of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before a brutal crackdown brought the demonstrations to an end.

An internet blackout put in place during the demonstrations earlier this month largely remains in force, while state media reported thousands of arrests have been carried out nationwide.

Tasnim news agency said an entrepreneur it identified as Mohammad Saedinia — who owns a well-known coffee shop chain, a major shopping mall and several other businesses — was arrested and all his properties were confiscated.

Tasnim reported the value of assets seized from Saedinia was almost equal to the damage caused in Tehran during the protests, which the municipality has estimated at IR30tn ($21.5mn).

Officials say well armed agitators killed hundreds of members of the security forces and set fire to state buildings, shops and mosques. Authorities claim the demonstrations were hijacked by “terrorists” armed and paid by Israel and the US.

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