The semi-official Fars news agency said activist Mostafa Tajzadeh was taken into custody on Friday afternoon and charged with “gathering (to protest) and conspiracy to act against the country’s security.”

Tajzadeh is a well-known activist who has criticized the country’s top leader and high-ranking officials. He spent years in prison following the disputed 2009 re-election of Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the turmoil that ensued

Meanwhile, Tehran chief prosecutor Ali Salehi was quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency on Saturday as endorsing the latest arrests and saying that activities of those detained “created divisions” that led to “incitement in the media and society.”

On Friday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported the arrests of two filmmakers over an appeal they posted on social media, accusing them of links with opposition groups based outside the country and plotting to undermine state security.