Kurdish January protest detainee Adel Rais Qanavati sentenced to nine months in prison

Hengaw – Monday, July 27, 2026

Adel Rais Qanavati, a Kurdish man who was arrested during the January 2026 protests, has been sentenced to nine months in prison by the Criminal Court of Ashkhaneh in North Khorasan province. A separate case against him remains pending before the Revolutionary Court.

According to information obtained by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Rais Qanavati, who previously spent two months in detention, was recently sentenced by a branch of the Ashkhaneh Criminal Court to nine months of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of “assaulting government officers.”

Sources familiar with the case said a separate case against him remains under review by the Revolutionary Court, and no final verdict has yet been issued.

Rais Qanavati was arrested by Iranian security forces on January 24, 2026, without the presentation of a warrant and transferred to an undisclosed location. During his two months in quarantine at Bojnord Prison, he was denied access to legal counsel and family visits.

After two months in detention, he was released on bail in early May 2026 pending the conclusion of judicial proceedings.