Families struggle to trace and contact detained relatives, as opposition calls for resistance movement to focus on plight of the thousands in jail DUBAI: Nearly 12,500 people have been arrested and more than 250 killed since the start of protests across the Iran sparked by the death in police custody of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini just over a month ago, according to a prominent human rights group. Families and friends of those who are missing have struggled to contact loved ones who remain unaccounted for and are presumed to be detained, The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, about 3,000 people have been arrested in Tehran province, 835 of whom remain in jail, including 200 university students. Meanwhile, it has been reported that about 1,300 prisoners have been sent to Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary from Evin prison following a massive fire at the latter over the weekend. HRANA, an Iranian human rights news website, said that 12,450 people have been arrested during the ongoing protests. Iranian human rights groups claims that journalists in particular are being targeted, especially those who report on people being detained. According to media reports, Mohammed Mehdi Esmaili, the minister of guidance, said the number of journalists that remain under arrest was not high. But the International Federation of Journalists said that 24 have been arrested since the protests started, 11 of whom were being held in Evin prison. Reporters Without Borders said more than 30 journalists are in jail, leaving many publications cowed and censored. The Writers Union of Iran said: “Repression of people who protested with empty hands has been a daily occurrence in the past 40 years. But what happened to children and prisoners last week is one of the blackest pages in the record of the current government.” Meanwhile, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, insisted security forces were close to snuffing out the remaining protests. “Sedition is going through its last moments,” he said. However, the protesters have vowed to continue to defy authorities and maintain their protests. Nearly 200 oil-refinery workers reportedly have been arrested since they and truck drivers joined the demonstrations.