 In February 2016, Hoodfar traveled to her home country of Iran, primarily for personal reasons but also for her academic research.In March, a day before Hoodfar was to leave to join family in London, members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) raided the flat where she was staying, confiscating her belongings and three passports.After three months of Iranian intelligence services regularly summoning her for questioning, Iranian authorities arrested her in early June.