On February 2, 2026, Javad Aghajannejad, managing editor of the Betarof news website, was detained and transferred to prison in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz to serve a one-year sentence.
Court documents posted on Aghajannejad’s Instagram account show that he was convicted on February 28, 2023, of “publishing false information using unreal and forged documents” and sentenced to one year in prison. As a supplementary punishment, he was also banned from engaging in any journalistic activity for two years.
The case was initiated following a complaint by Tabriz Mayor Yaghoub Houshiar. Aghajannejad’s outlet, Betarof, had previously published a report on his Instagram account alleging that the mayor had purchased a home in Turkey. Houshiar denied the claim, and the post was removed from Betarof’s Instagram page shortly afterward.
In a video posted to his Instagram account on February 2, Aghajannejad said he was on his way to the Enforcement of Sentences Branch to begin serving his prison term and two-year media ban in connection with the mayor’s complaint.
Referring to the Instagram post at the center of the case, he said the item had been published by the page administrator and “did not remain online for more than half an hour” before it was deleted.
Aghajannejad has previously faced pressure over his work. In December 2024, he posted on Instagram that security police had confiscated his phone and car after summoning him. In February 2023, he was physically confronted by a Tabriz City Council official and had his phone seized.
CPJ emailed Tabriz municipality for comment on Aghajannejad’s case but didn’t receive a response.