Arash Sadeghi

Age: 43

Activism/rights: Human rights activist

Status: Released on bail

Judicial status: 4 years and 3 months imprisonment

Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged solitary confinement, lack of due process, unfair trial, denial of medical treatment, familial punishment

Arash Sadeghi is a human rights activist who was first arrested as a student by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence on 9 July 2009 in front of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, along with a number of other students protesting the results of the controversial presidential election. He was rearrested in December 2009 and in May 2014. Arash was tried in Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court and sentenced to a total of 15 years imprisonment on charges of "assembly and conspiracy against national security," "blasphemy” and "insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic." The sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeals, ordering Arash to serve a 19 year sentence, including a previous four-year suspended sentence. On 7 June 2016, after the Court of Appeals ruling and while pursuing his case and that of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi-Iraei at the Evin Prosecutor’s Office, Arash was detained and transferred to Evin Prison to serve his sentence. More alarmingly, Arash was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer, for which he underwent surgery to remove a tumour from his shoulder. According to reports, despite the doctor’s orders that he be allowed to heal and recuperate in hospital after the surgery, security officials transferred him back to prison, causing infection and ultimately losing all mobility and feeling in his arm. Arash was released from prison after serving five and a half years on 1 May 2021 due to the implementation of the Sentence Reduction Directive. He was violently arrested and detained for hours after attending a protest in support of the Khuzestan protests in July. 

Arash was arrested during the nationwide protests on 12 October 2022 and taken to Evin Prison. He survived the October 15 attack on Evin Prison during the nationwide protests. He was released on bail on 21 January 2023. On 25 January, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced him in absentia to five years imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security,” eight months for “propaganda” and a two-year ban on leaving the country and presence in Tehran, his city of residence. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to 3 years and seven months for the first charge and eight months for the charge of propaganda. He also received additional punishments including two-year bans from leaving the country, membership in political groups, presence online, and two-year exile. The sentence was upheld by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeal on 14 September 2023 and sent for implementation. Arash is not fit to serve his sentence.