Child Rights Activist Sentenced To Six Years In Prison In Iran

Nahaleh Shahidi Yazdi, a child rights activist and Baha’i citizen, was transferred to Kerman Prison on Tuesday, June 2, to begin serving her six-year prison sentence.

Ms. Shahidi, a resident of Karaj, had traveled to Kerman during the Nowruz holidays of 2023 to visit her brother. She was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence forces at the Kerman train station on March 28 of that year while returning home.

Following her arrest, she was held in detention for nine months and four days without trial before eventually being released provisionally on bail. According to information obtained by IranWire, security agents raided her home in Karaj during her detention and, in her absence, searched the house and confiscated a number of her personal belongings.

Nahaleh Shahidi’s court of first instance was held in Kerman in August 2025, where she was sentenced to six years of discretionary imprisonment. This verdict was later upheld in its entirety by the Kerman Provincial Court of Appeals.

Nahaleh Shahidi had previously faced judicial prosecution due to her social and educational activities. According to a person close to her, in 2010, at the suggestion of a friend, she agreed to temporarily undertake the teacher training of a local woman in a village within Bam County to help ensure that children in the region could continue their education. The source noted that teachers deployed to the area usually left their positions unfinished due to the harsh weather conditions.

However, before the training course could conclude, Nahaleh Shahidi was arrested in March 2011 (Esfand 1389) by IRGC intelligence and faced charges including “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.” She was sentenced to five years in prison by the court of first instance, but the Kerman Provincial Court of Appeals ultimately issued an acquittal.

The arrest and sentencing of Baha’i citizens in Iran have repeatedly drawn criticism from human rights organizations in recent years. These organizations accuse the Islamic Republic of enforcing widespread restrictions against followers of the Baha’i faith in educational, professional, and civil spheres.