After the protests started due to the death of the young woman Mahsa Amini, the Iranian authorities arrested 18 media workers, the Board for the Protection of Journalists announced today. Several of them were taken from their homes during the night, "without a court order for their arrest", the Board states.

Human rights fighters were also arrested, including Hossein Ronaghy, a freedom of expression activist.

As part of the media reports, Ronagi escaped from the police when they came to arrest him while he was giving an interview to Iran International, based in London. However, the police found him and detained him on Saturday, along with his lawyer.

"In the context of the great violence, the Iranian authorities first limited access to WhatsApp and Instagram, and now they are detaining journalists with a clear message: no dissemination of news about the protests is allowed," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

From there, they demanded that "the journalists be immediately released, that all restrictions against the Iranians' right to information be lifted immediately."

Among the arrested journalists is Nilufar Namedi, who visited the hospital where Mahsa Amini was lying in a coma and contributed to spreading the information about the young girl's fate. Amini died after three days in a coma.

Photojournalist Yalda Moayrei, who became famous for her photography of anti-government protests in November 2019, is believed to be among those detained.

According to the latest data, there are at least 41 victims in the protests, and over 1.200 people in Iran have been arrested since the announcement of Amini's death on September 16.

The protests began after the girl was detained by police for morals, then beaten for allegedly not wearing the hijab properly.

The police refused to show the public footage of the van where the girl was beaten. From there they state that she died of a heart attack, although the family emphasized that Amini was healthy.