Former BBC journalist Bahman Daroshafaei, who was arrested in Tehran last week, has been transferred to Evin Prison.

The 34-year-old journalist was arrested on Wednesday, February 3, according to Iranian opposition media. Daroshafaei is of dual Iranian-British nationality and is a former employee of the BBC’s Persian service. He has reportedly been interrogated 40 times over the past few months.

According to Reuters, Daroshafaei’s family was told on Saturday that he was sent to Evin Prison.

“His family went to Evin prison today,” a friend, who had been in direct touch with the family but declined to be named, told Reuters on Saturday, February 6. “They managed to talk to someone on the phone who said Bahman was in Evin but he would not be able to contact his family for another week or so.”

Arresting officers did not present a warrant when they arrived at Daroshafaei’s home early on February 3, and his family said they had not been informed what the charges against him might be.

After living in London for several years, Daroshafaei returned to Iran in 2014 to be near his family.

Reuters also reported that a few of Daroshafaei’s friends in Tehran and London said they had received messages on social media in the last few days purporting to come from him. One said that she had been hacked after clicking on a link she received from Daroshafaei’s account.

Iranians go to the polls to elect representatives for parliament later this month. Elections for the Assembly of Experts, an influential governing body that supervises the work of the supreme leader, are due to take place at the same time. The string of recent arrests could be part of a wider effort to control information in the run up to elections.