Kurdish activist Soheil Arabi held in legal limbo amid torture

Hengaw – Thursday, April 23, 2026

Soheil Arabi, a Kurdish political activist and former political prisoner, remains in legal limbo more than a month after his arrest. He is being held in solitary confinement in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, where he has been subjected to pressure and torture.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Arabi, a native of Bijar currently residing in Tehran, was arrested by Iranian forces in Tehran in March. Despite the passage of more than a month, he continues to be detained in solitary confinement without any clear legal status or judicial resolution.

Informed sources told Hengaw that Arabi was recently subjected to severe beatings during interrogation by government agents inside the prison. The injuries he sustained were serious enough to require transfer to a medical facility outside the prison for initial treatment, after which he was returned to solitary confinement.

He is facing charges of “membership in opposition groups” and has recently received a summons to attend an interrogation session.

Soheil Arabi, a blogger and recipient of the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize, has a history of repeated arrests and heavy sentences. In 2014, he was initially sentenced to death over his online activities; the sentence was later overturned following international pressure.