March 2025

Mahvash Sabet, a prisoner of conscience, has been repeatedly persecuted for her religious beliefs and activities. In August 2010, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2010. Her sentence was briefly reduced to 10 years in September 2010 before being reinstated by another appeals court in March 2011.

On July 31, 2022, she was arrested in Tehran alongside Afiif Naeimi and Fariba Kamalabadi, after security forces raided her home, during which she was allegedly subjected to severe mistreatment, including having her kneecaps broken during interrogation.

Despite these hardships, Sabet continued to write, publishing The Prison Poems in 2013, and in 2017, she was honored with the PEN Pinter Prize for a Writer of Courage, chosen by poet Michael Longley. Following a one-hour trial on November 21, 2022, she was sentenced to ten years in prison, a verdict upheld by the Tehran Court of Appeal in August 2023. Reports indicate that her health has deteriorated significantly in prison, with repeated hospitalizations and ongoing suffering from a severe respiratory and lung condition, for which authorities have denied her proper medical care.

In recent months, her health has severely declined; in October 2024, reports emerged that she was suffering from a serious respiratory and lung condition, with prison authorities denying her appropriate treatment. By December 2024, her condition worsened, leading to her transfer to Rajaei Hospital in Tehran due to escalating cardiac issues.

During her imprisonment, she endured harsh conditions, including breaking her hip without being granted medical leave. Her sentence was later reduced to 10 years under Article 134 of Iran’s Penal Code, leading to her release on September 18, 2017, after completing her sentence. Despite this past ordeal, she was re-arrested in 2022 and remains imprisoned.

Sabet is married and has children.