The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday urged Tehran to end what it described as a growing crackdown on journalists, scholars and writers who highlight social and economic injustices following the recent arrests of several leftist intellectuals.

Iranian security agents last week detained prominent Iranian economist Parviz Sedaghat as well as three other leftist intellectuals and issued summonses to two others. All had been critical of state policies.

“Iran’s imprisonment of Parviz Sedaghat and his colleagues represents yet another attempt to criminalize critical thought and independent journalism,” said Sara Qudah, the regional director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“Authorities must release all journalists and researchers detained for their writings and end the escalating repression against voices calling for transparency and justice.”

Those targeted in addition to Sedaghat include economist Mohammad Maljoo, sociologist Mahsa Asadollahnejad, writers and translators Shirin Karimi and Heyman Rahimi and researcher Rasoul Ghanbari.

Translator and labor activist Keyvan Mohtadi has also been summoned after security forces failed to detain him during a raid on his relatives’ home on Monday, November 10, his lawyer said.

Human rights groups have described the arrests and summonses as part of a broader campaign of arrests meant to stifle public debate following Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.

In an article published three weeks after the June war, Sedeghat had written that despite the ceasefire with Israel, “we continue to live within the same rhetoric, the same confrontational tone.”

He warned that Iran’s economy “has been caught in structural blockage” and that without political reform, it is “pushing the country toward systemic collapse.”