Ten January protest detainees in Sabzevar sentenced to suspended prison terms, fines and additional penalties

Hengaw – Sunday, September 6, 2026

Ten people arrested in Sabzevar in connection with the January 2026 protests, including a 17-year-old girl and two women, have been sentenced in a joint case to a combined 15 years of suspended imprisonment, 1.5 billion tomans in fines and additional penalties.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, the defendants — Mehdi Nasrabadi, 29; Matin Koushkbaghi, 24; Amir Estiri, 20; Mehdi Ghazi, 19; Amir Erfan Tajabadi, 19; Nazanin-Zahra Mousavi, 17; Reza Khorshid Sokhangouy; Zahra Jafari; Erfan Abed; and Fatemeh Bazghandi — are all residents of Sabzevar. The Sabzevar Revolutionary Court sentenced them to a combined 15 years of suspended imprisonment and fines totaling 1.5 billion tomans.

As additional penalties, the defendants were also ordered to attend Friday prayers for two months and participate in ideological classes for three months.

The sentences have been upheld by the Razavi Khorasan Provincial Court of Appeals.

The Sabzevar Revolutionary Court had initially sentenced each defendant to three years and six months in prison. Due to their lack of prior criminal records, the sentences were reduced to a fine of 150 million tomans and a suspended prison term of one year and six months for each defendant. They were also ordered to attend Friday prayers for two months and participate in three months of ideological classes under the supervision of an individual identified as “Malakouti.”

The 10 defendants were arrested separately by Iranian security forces in January 2026 in connection with protests in Sabzevar.