Kurdish artist Yalda Abbasi jailed in Mashhad to serve one-year sentence

Hengaw – Monday, January 26, 2026

Yalda Abbasi, a prominent Kurdish musician, singer, and dutar player originally from Shirvan in North Khorasan Province and currently residing in Germany, has been arrested by Iranian government to serve a one-year prison sentence.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Abbasi was arrested on Friday, January 23, 2026, at her family home in Mashhad. She was immediately transferred to Vakilabad Prison for the enforcement of a sentence previously issued without her presence or legal representation.

Sources said she was informed following her arrest that she had been convicted in absentia and sentenced to one year in prison in a case related to her artistic and civil activities during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.

Abbasi, who is the mother of a 17-month-old child, had traveled from Germany to Iran with her husband and child during the Christmas holidays to visit her family.

A graduate of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Italy, Yalda Abbasi is widely regarded as a leading figure in contemporary Kurdish and Khorasani music. She is known for blending traditional dutar music with classical vocal techniques, and gained international recognition following her appearance in the documentary “Tareqeh” and the founding of the all-female music ensemble Nazar in 2016.

In 2011, she released her debut album “Kawat”, in collaboration with her mother and Mohsen Mirzazadeh, which received widespread acclaim. However, her second album, “Kawat 2,” completed two years later, was denied a publication permit by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, effectively blocking its release.

Abbasi had previously been detained on December 6, 2018, at Istanbul International Airport, while traveling to Turkey to participate in a concert organized by the Mesopotamia Cultural Center, and was briefly held by Turkish security forces.