Iranian journalist Khosrow Sadeghi Borojeni is serving a seven-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison on charges of “colluding against national security and insulting the Islamic republic’s founder” in relation to his critical writing. After being arrested and released on bail in May 2019, he was jailed in August 2020.
Borojeni is a columnist on topics such as poverty among Iranian workers and the government’s alleged mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic for several state-run publications, including the weekly Majaleh Hafteh magazine, according to the journalist’s personal website and a report by the Persian service of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America.
Borojeni was initially arrested on May 8, 2019 and detained for six nights before being released on bail, according to that report. In February 2020, a Tehran court sentenced Borojeni to eight years in prison for “colluding against national security and insulting the Islamic republic’s founder,” according to a report by the U.S.-government funded Radio Farda and a report by the news website Radio Zamaneh.
On June 13, 2020, Branch 36 of Tehran’s Appeals Court reduced Borojeni’s sentence to seven years, according to those reports.
On August 18, 2020, authorities arrested Borojeni in the northwestern Iranian province of West Azerbaijan, and on September 9 transferred him to Tehran’s Evin Prison to begin his sentence, according to reports by the exile-run outlets IranWireand the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Borojeni is required to serve at least five years of his sentence, according to those reports.
According to a report by HRANA, Borojeni was transferred to ward 8, from ward 4, of Evin prison on September 29, 2020.
On August 28, 2022, Borojeni left Tehran’s Evin Prison for a weeklong furlough during which he addressed unspecified health issues, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) and a source familiar with Borojeni’s case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity for security reasons. The source told CPJ that the journalist had been prescribed steroid pills in prison, which did not help his condition.
At the time of Borojeni’s arrest, CPJ called the Tehran judiciary office for comment, but no one answered. CPJ also emailed Iran’s U.N. mission in September 2022 to inquire about the cases of imprisoned Iranian journalists, including Borojeni, but did not receive any reply.