Child rights activist and Baha’i adherent Nahaleh Shahidi imprisoned to serve six-year sentence in Kerman

Hengaw – Thursday, June 4, 2026

Nahaleh Shahidi, a Baha’i adherent from Kerman and a child rights activist who had previously been sentenced to six years in prison by the Iranian judiciary, has been arrested and transferred to Kerman Central Prison to begin serving her sentence.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Shahidi, who is residing in Karaj, was arrested on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, following the confirmation of her sentence on appeal and transferred to Kerman Central Prison to serve a six-year prison term.

Shahidi had traveled to Kerman during the Newroz holidays in March 2023 to visit her brother. While preparing to return home, on March 28, 2023, she was arrested by Intelligence Organization forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at Kerman railway station.

During her detention, security forces also raided her home in Karaj in her absence, conducted a thorough search of the property and confiscated several personal belongings and electronic devices.

The child rights activist spent nine months and four days in pretrial detention without a court hearing and under what sources described as unsuitable conditions. Following the completion of interrogations, she was released temporarily on a heavy bail pending the conclusion of judicial proceedings.

Her initial trial was held in August 2025 before the Revolutionary Court of Kerman. She was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison, a ruling that was later upheld in full by the Kerman Provincial Court of Appeals.