Iranian journalist Saba Azarpeik is serving a three-year prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison on charges of "spreading propaganda against the state," false news, and defamation.
Azarpeik, a freelance journalist who has reported for several moderate newspapers, including Etemad, was forcibly detained on June 9, 2024 after her sentencing hearing. News reports said she had visible bruising after she was roughly handled when she was brought to prison from court.
Iran’s Judiciary Media Center said that Azarpeik’s conviction followed separate complaints filed by Iranian parliament members Mohsen Dehnavi and Zahra Sheikhi, and two other unnamed plaintiffs. She was fined and banned from social media for two years and was ordered to issue a public apology in a newspaper.
Political analysts and press freedom activists believe that her arrest could be politically motivated, linked to her criticism in the media of high-ranking officials, including Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a candidate in Iran’s presidential election, held in June and July of 2024.
Azarpeik’s husband, Ataollah Hafezi, said on social media that the stress of Azarpeik’s legal ordeal had led her to lose two pregnancies. He said after the June sentencing, she experienced severe bleeding and was transferred to a hospital from prison, but medical intervention did not prevent the second loss.
Hafezi requested an emergency furlough for his wife with Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, urging him to consider her health and physical well-being.
Azarpeik was previously imprisoned for her journalism in 2014.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York in late 2024 for comment on the case of Azarpeik and other imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.