Amirhossein (Iman) Seyrafi, a former political prisoner and digital security expert previously accused of spying for the United States, has been arrested amid Iran’s sweeping crackdown on dissent, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International.
Seyrafi was detained on January 26 outside his home in Tehran, they said. Authorities have not issued any statement on his arrest.
An informed source told Iran International he has been accused of cooperating with Israel's foreign intelligence agency Mossad.
Seyrafi had previously been imprisoned on national security-related charges and was released in October 2020 after serving seven years in prison.
Iran’s judiciary had accused him of spying for the United States and “collaboration with a hostile government,” charges frequently used against political detainees, activists and individuals working in sensitive fields like IT.
Human rights organizations have identified Seyrafi as one of dozens of prisoners previously held in Ward 7 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, where detainees facing national security accusations are commonly imprisoned.
A 2019 report by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) listed Seyrafi among prisoners charged under Iran’s penal code provisions related to espionage and alleged ties to “enemy states.”
But Seyrafi has also been referenced in international cybersecurity research examining Iran’s early hacker networks.
A report published in 2013 by the ICT Cyber Desk at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya in Israel identified Seyrafi — also known online as “Iman” or “iM4n” — as the first leader of a hacker group known as the “Emperor Team.”
The report credited him with involvement in the defacement of websites and subdomains belonging to major international platforms, including MSN and Yahoo.
Seyrafi and other members, it added, initially formed the group to gather information before later shifting into what he described in past interviews as “security activities,” including the development of basic cyber tools.
Some of the assertions cited in the report could not be independently verified.
Seyrafi’s rearrest comes amid increasing concern from rights advocates that Iranian authorities are treating digital expertise itself as a national security threat.
