Death sentence overturned: Shahriar Bayat now faces prison and community service
Hengaw – Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Shahriar Bayat, a 64-year-old political prisoner and detainee from the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement, has been sentenced to five years in prison and one year of community service after the Supreme Court of Iran overturned his previous death sentence.
According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Bayat — a resident of Shahriar in Tehran Province who is currently held in Evin Prison — was sentenced by Branch 10 of the Tehran Criminal Court to five years in prison on charges of “insulting Islamic sanctities.” The presiding judge ruled that the severity of the charge justified a sentence beyond the legal minimum.
As a supplementary punishment, Bayat was also ordered to complete one year of unpaid community service at the Kahrizak Charity Foundation. This verdict followed a court session held on May 13, 2025.
Bayat’s initial death sentence had been issued by Branch 13 of the Tehran Criminal Court on charges of “insulting the Prophet,” based on social media posts and content obtained from his mobile phone, as well as interrogation reports by the Tehran Intelligence Department. In April 2025, Branch 39 of the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and referred the case back to Branch 10 for retrial.
According to informed sources, two criminal court advisors—Saeed Sharafati and Ali Taghian—rejected Bayat’s “declaration of repentance” and initially upheld the death sentence. However, a third advisor, Abolghasem Morad-Talab, accepted the repentance and ruled that imprisonment would be a sufficient penalty.
In a separate case, Bayat was sentenced by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court to a total of 18 years in prison: 10 years for “forming a group,” 5 years for “assembly and collusion,” 2 years for “insulting the Supreme Leader and Ayatollah Khomeini,” and 1 year for “propaganda against the government.”
Bayat was arrested on October 25, 2022, during the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi movement. He was detained by Ministry of Intelligence forces in the city of Shahriar, first held in the Great Tehran Penitentiary, and later transferred to Ward 6 of Evin Prison.
