Roya Sabet, Baha’i adherent, sentenced in Shiraz to 25 years and supplementary punishment

Hengaw - Friday, May 30, 2025

Roya Sabet, a Baha’i adherent originally from Shiraz and currently residing in the United Arab Emirates, has been sentenced by the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to 25 years of discretionary imprisonment alongside supplementary penalties.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Wednesday, June 28, 2025, Branch One of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz convicted Sabet of “collaborating and communicating with Israeli nationals and institutions, and forming and managing a group with the intent to act against national security,” for which she received a 20-year prison sentence. Additionally, she was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “propagating sectarian activities contrary to Islamic law.” The combined sentence of 25 years has been officially communicated to her.

If the sentence is upheld on appeal, Iranian law mandates that only the most severe sentence—10 years in prison—will be enforced.

In addition to imprisonment, Sabet was also sentenced to a two-year travel ban with passport revocation, a five-year suspension of social rights, and a prohibition on engaging in online activities.

Sabet, who had resided in the United Arab Emirates for 23 years, was summoned and arrested by the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Shiraz on February 15, 2024, on charges of “propaganda against the state and acting against national security.”

Following five months of pre-trial detention, she was released on bail in August 2024 from Adelabad Prison in Shiraz.