Mehdi Pakmehr, a Kurdish artist from the city of Bojnourd in North Khorasan Province who was wounded and arrested during the January protests, has been sentenced to six years of discretionary imprisonment and 70 lashes across two separate legal cases.
According to information received by IranWire, Mehdi Pakmehr, a Kurdish artist from the city of Bojnourd in North Khorasan Province who was wounded and arrested during the January 2026 protests, has been sentenced to six years of discretionary imprisonment and 70 lashes across two separate cases.
A source close to Mr. Pakmehr told IranWire: "On January 9, 2026, Mehdi was arrested along with the staff of his cafe and transferred to prison. He was detained for two months and was later temporarily released on bail of 6 billion tomans pending a final decision and trial."
This informed individual stated that Mehdi Pakmehr was arrested while wounded in the leg by birdshot fired during the protests, and he spent his recovery period in prison. Based on IranWire's findings, two separate cases were filed against the Kurdish artist, one of which was adjudicated in the Criminal Court and the other in the Revolutionary Court.
The informed source who spoke with IranWire said: "They do not provide the ruling to Mr. Pakmehr in writing, so we do not know the exact details of the charges. We only know that, according to the preliminary ruling of the Criminal Court, he was sentenced to one year and three months in prison and 74 lashes. In the Revolutionary Court, he was sentenced to five years in prison, of which one year is suspended and four years are discretionary."
Efforts by Suppressive Forces to Fabricate a Case Against Mehdi Pakmehr
The source who spoke with IranWire stated: "Mehdi Pakmehr is a well-known singer, poet, and political activist in the city of Bojnourd. He had previously been arrested by security agencies and was also released with an electronic ankle monitor for a period. During the January protests, a few nights before his arrest, he went to Bojnourd's Shahid Square with his friend. Suppressive forces fired tear gas at them despite them having done nothing. When they protested, his friend was arrested. Mehdi told the officers, 'I won't budge from here until you release my friend; what am I supposed to tell his mother?'"
According to this informed individual, Mehdi sat in front of a shop that had a CCTV camera and waited for his friend's release. The officers told him to leave the spot and wait a few meters further down, saying his friend would come out. "Once he left, they set the shop on fire to pin the accusation on him, but Mehdi was caught on camera extinguishing the fire with his bare hands."
Mehdi Pakmehr is the nephew of Mohammad Reza Tabari, one of the protesters arrested during the January protests in Islamshahr County, Tehran Province.
Mohammad Reza Tabari owns a carpentry shop in the Oryn area of Islamshahr. Reports indicate that after participating in the January 8 protests in the Baharestan area of Tehran, and upon learning from neighbors and residents of his town that security forces were looking for him, he voluntarily went to the Information Awareness Department (Adagahi) and turned himself in.
Following his arrest, Mohammad Reza Tabari was sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges of "Moharebeh" (enmity against God) through drawing a firearm and "operational action in favor of opposition groups." The sentence against this citizen was issued while he was denied the right to a lawyer of his choice and a fair trial throughout the judicial proceedings.
State-run news agencies, including Fars, published reports claiming that this protesting citizen had wounded a security officer with a firearm. However, available evidence and imagery show that during the protests, he did not even use a mask or a hat to cover his face, which contradicts the claim of an "organized and armed action."
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