Hossein Shanbehzadeh, a journalist, translator, editor, and social media activist was detained on June 6, 2024, in the northwestern city of Ardabil. His arrest followed his response posted on X to Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei. The journalist’s post, which contained only a period, was a reply to Khamenei’s post missing a period and notably received more likes and shares than the original. Shortly after his post, his X account was suspended.
On August 31, 2024, Shanbehzadeh’s lawyer, Amir Raesian, said he had been sentenced by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court to five years for “propaganda in favor of the occupying regime of Israel,” four years for “insulting Islamic principles,” two years and a fine for “spreading lies to public opinion,” and one year for “propaganda against the state” -- a total of 12 years. In an article for the state-run Asriran news site, Raesian said that Shanbehzadeh will serve at least five years of the sentence, the minimum allowable sentence for the crimes.
The Ardabil prosecutor accused Shanbehzadeh of “connections with senior officers in Israel’s Mossad spy agency and of attempting to flee the country,” according to Asriran. In the Asriran article, Raesian said prosecutors lacked evidence to convict the journalist, particularly on the accusation of links to Israel. He said that the case relied heavily on private chat messages which did not clearly demonstrate criminal intent. Prosecutors claimed that the journalist’s social media posts, which included messages of support for political detainees, criticism of national policies and the electoral process, and the use of hashtags such as “No to execution,” were evidence of “insulting Islamic principles.” Raesian said that the journalist may appeal the sentence.
In June 2024, BBC Persian reported that Hossein Shanbehzadeh was tortured during his interrogation to coerce a confession. “Hossein said they forced him into a televised confession by threatening to kill his niece. He said he was willing to ‘confess’ to anything — from the murder of Jesus Christ to that of Raisi,” a well-informed source told BBC.
According to the BBC’s source, Hossein Shanbehzadeh was beaten so severely at the time of his arrest that, despite taking sleeping pills, he could not sleep for several nights due to the pain.
The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, meanwhile, reposted a cartoon by Reza Aghili about Shanbehzadeh and, in a sarcastic tone, urged users on X “not” to flood Ayatollah Khamenei’s posts with periods.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York in late 2024 for comment on the case of Shanbehzadeh and other imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.