Mohammad Najafi sentenced to three years in prison, complementary punishments

Hengaw — Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Iran’s judiciary has sentenced Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, to three years in prison and complementary punishments in a new case opened against him during his imprisonment.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Najafi was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, to three years in prison, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year prohibition on membership in political and social groups. The verdict was formally communicated to his lawyers on November 19, 2025.

Under the ruling, Najafi received one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the state” and two years in prison and a fine of 50 million tomans on the charge of “spreading false information.” He was also given a two-year ban on joining political and social groups and a two-year travel ban, as stated in the verdict issued earlier in November 2025.

The court session addressing the charges against this political prisoner was held in Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on November 5, 2025, although Najafi did not attend the session.

Earlier this year, Branch One of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges issued a ruling permanently disbarring Najafi from practicing law.

During his imprisonment, this lawyer has been denied necessary medical care and transfer to a hospital despite suffering from multiple health conditions.

Najafi was arrested in April 2019 to begin serving a ten-year prison sentence related to the December 2017–January 2018 protests after being convicted of “collaboration with hostile states.” He was initially held in Arak Central Prison and later transferred to Evin Prison in May 2023.

Four days before this arrest, while serving a three-year prison sentence in Arak Prison, Najafi was released on March 28, 2019, under a directive known as “pardon.” The sentence he was serving at that time was based on the charges of “propaganda in favor of opposition groups and organizations” and “insulting Khamenei.”

Najafi had previously been arrested on October 28, 2018, and transferred to Arak Central Prison to serve a three-year sentence.

With several of his sentences later merged across multiple cases, Najafi received a total sentence of ten years in prison in December 2019 on charges that included “collaboration with hostile states through interviews with foreign media.”