Hossein Shanbehzadeh receives additional one-year prison sentence

Hengaw – Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Hossein Shanbehzadeh, an editor, translator, and social media activist from Bushehr residing in Tehran, has received an additional one-year prison sentence in a new case while serving a five-year term in Evin Prison.

The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has learned that Shanbehzadeh’s lawyer, Amir Raisian, published an image of the initial ruling on August 23, 2026, stating that the new sentence stems solely from a message Shanbehzadeh sent from prison to friends on his birthday.

The court sentenced Shanbehzadeh to one year in prison over the birthday message. In its ruling, the court explicitly cited “the manner in which the message was published by hostile media in cyberspace,” using a prisoner’s personal communications as the basis for a new criminal conviction. The ruling is preliminary and subject to appeal.

Shanbehzadeh, 37, was arrested by Iranian forces in Ardabil on June 4, 2024. Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, subsequently sentenced him to a total of 12 years in prison. Under Iran’s sentence-merging provisions, the most severe sentence, five years for “propaganda activity against the state in favor of Israel,” became enforceable, along with a fine.

His other sentences included four years for “insulting sacred values” and a combined three years on charges of “spreading false information,” “disturbing public opinion,” and “propaganda against the state.”

Shanbehzadeh had previously been arrested during the November 2019 protests and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. He was transferred to Evin Prison in July 2022 to serve that sentence.