Kurdish labour activist Farhad Sheikhi has been sentenced to one year in prison and additional penalties by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Karaj, Alborz Province, on charges of “propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Sheikhi’s trial took place on 2 October 2023, and he was informed of the verdict in recent days.
According to the verdict, Sheikhi was sentenced to one year in prison, a two-year ban on leaving Iran, two years of exile and compulsory residence in Divandarreh, Kurdistan Province, and a two-year ban on living in Alborz and Tehran provinces.
Sheikhi, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, was arrested by security forces at his family home in Hashtgerd in Karaj on 28 May 2023.
He was provisionally released from Rajai Shahr Prison after 14 days on a bail of one billion rials – nearly 2,000 USD.
Previously, on 1 May 2019, Sheikhi was detained during a workers’ rally on International Workers’ Day in front of the parliament in Tehran. He was released on bail after 33 days in Fashafouyeh prison.
On 4 August that year, Branch 1058 of Tehran Criminal Court Two sentenced Sheikhi to four months’ imprisonment and five lashes for “disturbing public order and peace”, suspended for two years.
