Activists Neda Dadejani and Setayesh Sarabi flogged and imprisoned

Hengaw – Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Iranian authorities have flogged Kurdish activists Neda Dadejani and Setayesh (Behnoush) Sarabi, both women from Qorveh, and transferred them to Sanandaj (Sine) Central Prison to serve their prison sentences. They were arrested during the January 2026 protests.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Dadejani and Sarabi were summoned to the Qorveh court on Saturday, August 22, 2026, purportedly to provide explanations. Authorities arrested them immediately upon arrival, carried out their flogging sentences, and transferred them to the women’s ward of Sanandaj Central Prison to serve their sentences.

Hengaw has learned that their flogging and prison sentences were enforced despite pending requests to serve their sentences under electronic monitoring, to which they had received no response.

Dadejani, an artist, puppeteer, costume designer, and theater makeup artist, was arrested by security forces in Qorveh during the January 2026 protests. She is a recipient of an award for puppetry and puppet design at the eighth Regional Theater Festival for Persons with Disabilities.

Sarabi, also from Qorveh, was arrested by security forces in the city during the same protests.

Branch 102 of the Qorveh Criminal Court II had previously sentenced each woman to one year in prison, 31 lashes, and two years of exile to Nikshahr County in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on the charge of “disrupting public order and tranquility.”

Branch 1 of the Qorveh Revolutionary Court also sentenced each to two years in prison on the charge of “assembly and collusion to commit a crime against internal security.”

The use of degrading and inhuman punishments such as flogging constitutes torture and violates Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.