Iranian freelance journalist Vida Rabbani, who reports for reformist newspapers Seda Weekly, Shargh Daily, and on social media site X, was arrested from her home on September 24, 2022, for reporting on protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death.
On December 31, 2022, Rabbani was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for “acting and colluding against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system,” according to the state-run news website Khabaronline.
Prior to her September 2022 arrest she had been sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison for “blasphemy,” “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “disrupting public order” in an August 2022 case over her activities on the social audio app Clubhouse, where she helped convene a chat room about politics and social issues. She was not taken into custody at the time.
Vida Rabbani was released from Evin Prison, under a conditional release order, after serving 32 months in prison, on April 9, 2025.
Rabbani, who is also a member of the reformist Union of Islamic Iran People Party, was initially held in solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin prison, under the supervision of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, according to a source familiar with a case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. She was later transferred to the women’s ward.
On June 11, 2023 Rabbani was placed on furlough due to her declining health, Shargh Daily reported. CPJ’s source said that Rabbani suffers from asthma and neurological problems. She also suffers from several underlying conditions that include nerve inflammation in her feet and eyes, and chronic headaches. Despite these problems, she was summoned back to prison on August 25, according to CPJ’s source.
Rabbani was previously imprisoned for one month in 2020.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York in late 2024 for comment on Rabbani’s case and those of other imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.