Malihi, a contributor to the reformist publications Etemad, Irandokht, Shahrvand-e-Emruz, and Mehrnameh, was charged with several antistate counts, including “mutiny against the regime” and “insulting the president.” Malihi was sentenced to a four-year prison term, which an appeals court upheld in September 2010, according to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters. Malihi was also a leader of the politically active Iranian Students Association.
The reformist news site Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz and others published a February 2010 petition signed by 250 civil society activists demanding Malihi’s release and stating that he was a nonpartisan journalist. In a March 2010 letter to Tehran’s prosecutor, Malihi’s father said the journalist had endured severe beatings while being held at Evin Prison, according to the reformist site Advar News.