Student activist Motahareh Goonei detained to serve 15-month prison term

Hengaw – Monday, September 7, 2026

Motahareh Goonei, a dentistry student at the University of Tehran and former political secretary of the Islamic Association of Students at the University of Tehran and Tehran University of Medical Sciences, has been detained to serve a 15-month prison term.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Goonei was detained on Monday, September 7, 2026, after being summoned to and appearing at a sentence enforcement branch in Tehran. She was transferred to Evin Prison.

Goonei was arrested by Iranian forces in Tehran on June 14, 2025, during the 12-day war and held for more than a month before being temporarily released on bail.

Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court subsequently sentenced her to 15 months in prison for “propaganda against the state” and six months for “insulting the Supreme Leader,” and ordered the confiscation of her mobile phone. The Tehran Province Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in full in December 2025. Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, the longer sentence of 15 months is enforceable.

Goonei has previously been arrested and convicted over her activities. She was released from Evin Prison on March 16, 2025, after completing an earlier sentence.