(auf Englisch)
Following Peyvand Naimi’s arrest, his family sought information about his fate or whereabouts from various official bodies in Kerman province but authorities repeatedly dismissed them and denied holding him. After three days, the family received a 30-second call from Peyvand Naimi during which he did not say where he was being held. He made another 30-second call 19 days after arrest during which he stated that he had not been charged but that he was being held by the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC without specifying the location. When the family followed up with the prosecutor’s office, an official told them that his detention was not related to a serious issue and that they should not be alarmed or raise concerns. In subsequent calls to family, he sounded highly distressed. On 1 February 2026, authorities broadcast a propaganda video about arrests made in relation to a purported "Baha’i network" during the January 2026 protests in Kerman province featuring several people with blurred faces making "confessions" about alleged involvement in organized online groups and foreign-orchestrated acts of violence. Peyvand Naimi, identified by his voice, appeared briefly in the video to say that participants in his online group agreed to meet in the town square and to "stay among protesters". Following this, he made another brief call his to family in which he sounded distressed and told them that he has not done anything wrong.

Peyvand Naimi was later transferred from the IRGC detention facility to Kerman prison. However, on the first day of the Israeli-US attacks on Iran on 28 February 2026, agents removed him from the prison yard and returned him to the IRGC detention facility for 10 days. According to an informed source, during this period, agents subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment to compel him to make false "confessions" again. For the first two days, agents suspended him from his hands and feet, beat him repeatedly and denied him food. Interrogators told him that because it was a period of fasting for Baha’is, he "should not be eating", in a discriminatory targeting of his religious identity. For the next three days, agents beat him repeatedly. Agents also subjected him twice to mock execution by simulating hanging. Interrogators accused him of involvement in the killing of three agents from the IRGC’s Basij battalions during protests in Kerman on 8 January 2026. Agents also accused him of "celebrating" while in prison the death of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed during US-Israeli attacks on 28 February 2026. According to an informed source, agents subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment to compel him to accept these accusations, but he refused and has denied them. His health has deteriorated in detention with gastrointestinal problems and an involuntary eye twitch, both of which he developed in detention. He was returned to Kerman prison after 10 days and is now being held in solitary confinement in the prison. No written charges or other formal documentation have been provided to his family.

Following Borna Naimi’s arrest on 1 March 2026, he was held in a detention centre controlled by the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC when, according to an informed source, agents subjected him to mock executions, electric shocks causing burns to his feet and legs, and repeated beatings including on his ribs and back. After days of torture and other ill-treatment, as well as threats to harm his wife and child, he was forced to sign a false "confession" pre-written by interrogators implicating both himself and Peyvand Naimi in killing members of Basij forces on 8 January 2026. According to information gathered by Amnesty International, authorities have not presented any evidence implicating the cousins in any internationally recognizable offences. Borna Naimi was later transferred to Kerman prison where he is now held.

On 17 January 2026, the Ministry of Intelligence announced that a "32-member espionage network linked to the Baha’i sect, which was active in the unrest and acts of destruction, has been identified", with 12 people arrested and another 13 summoned. The statement accused the individuals, based on "intelligence and confessions", of forming a "spy network" in multiple provinces, including Kerman, and claimed they were involved in "attacking government buildings and inciting and encouraging rioters to attack police and military centres" during the January 2026 protests. The IRGC also issued a statement on 20 January 2026, stating that a "network of elements from the deviant Baha’i sect in Kerman was identified and dismantled". The statements made no claims that any of the individuals were arrested in relation to the killings of Basij agents.

The Iranian authorities have intensified their persecution of the Baha’i religious minority in recent years. Since the 12-day war in June 2025, authorities have used the securitized climate to intensify this persecution, including through a coordinated state campaign of incitement to hostility, violence, discrimination and disinformation falsely accusing Baha’is as spies and collaborators for Israel.