Iranian courts have sentenced at least nine Kurdish citizens from Bojnurd and Ashkhaneh in North Khorasan Province, including two children, to prison terms, flogging and fines in connection with the December 2025–January 2026 protests.
The nine individuals are Ali Barati, Adel Raeis Ghanavati, Erfan Sajjadi, 17-year-old Yasin Sarafraz, Mehdi Rostami, Amir-Mehdi Naeimifar, Seyyed Ali-Reza Seydi, Farhad Baghcheghi and 16-year-old Saeid Baghcheghi.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that several of them remain in detention, while others have been temporarily released on bail after periods in custody.
Saeid Baghcheghi, a 16-year-old child from Bojnurd, was sentenced in recent weeks by Branch 103 of the city’s Criminal Court to two years and four months in prison.
No information is available about the charges brought against him in the case.
Baghcheghi was arrested during the protests in Bojnurd on 9 January and temporarily released on bail in July.
Farhad Baghcheghi, also from Bojnurd, was tried in absentia in mid-July without access to a lawyer of his choosing and sentenced by Branch 103 of the city’s Criminal Court to a total of three years in prison and 74 lashes.
He was sentenced on charges of “disrupting public order and peace by participating in gatherings”, “resisting government officials in the course of their duties” and “clashing with officials”.
Security forces arrested Baghcheghi during the protests in Bojnurd on 8 January. He was temporarily released on bail of 50 billion rials after being held for two months in solitary confinement at a security detention facility and a prison in the city.
Seyyed Ali-Reza Seydi, from Ashkhaneh, was sentenced in mid-July by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnurd to three years in prison and flogging on charges of “assembly and collusion to commit offences against national security”.
His trial took place on 13 July, and the sentence was communicated to him several days later.
Security forces arrested Seydi in connection with the protests on 10 January, and he was temporarily released on bail 10 days later.
Amir-Mehdi Naeimifar, an 18-year-old boxer and footballer from Bojnurd, was recently sentenced by Branch Four of the Criminal Court in Bojnurd to one year and six months in prison and a fine of 500 million rials.
He was sentenced on charges of “disrupting public order and peace” and “disobeying officials’ orders”.
Security forces arrested Naeimifar during protests in Bojnurd on 8 January, and he was temporarily released on bail around three weeks later.
Mehdi Rostami, 25, from Ashkhaneh, was denied access to a lawyer when Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnurd sentenced him in mid-July to two years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state”.
He was arrested in connection with protests in the city in mid-January and temporarily released on bail after being tortured for several days at a security detention facility.
Ali Barati, 25, from Bojnurd, was denied access to a lawyer of his choosing when a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnurd sentenced him in recent weeks to three years and eight months in prison on a charge of “assembly and collusion against national security”.
He was arrested during protests in Bojnurd on 9 January and temporarily released on bail of 30 billion rials on 15 January.
Adel Raeis Ghanavati, from Bojnurd, was sentenced in mid-June by the city’s Criminal Court to nine months in prison on a charge of “clashing with government officials”.
A separate case has also been opened against him at the Islamic Revolutionary Court, but no information is currently available about its status.
He was arrested in connection with the protests in Bojnurd on 24 January and temporarily released on bail in mid-June after being held for around two months in the city’s prison.
Erfan Sajjadi, 20, from Bojnurd, was tried in absentia in mid-June without access to a lawyer of his choosing and sentenced by Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnurd to six months in prison and a fine of two billion rials on a charge of “propaganda against the state”.
He was arrested during protests in Bojnurd on 8 January and released on a surety bond after several days of severe physical and psychological torture.
Yasin Sarafraz, a 17-year-old child from Bojnurd who is a member of Iran’s national boxing team and has won several national championships, was recently sentenced by Branch Four of the city’s Criminal Court to three years and three months in prison and a fine of 1,8 billion rials.
He was sentenced on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security”.
Sarafraz was arrested during public protests in Bojnurd on 9 January and was denied access to a lawyer of his choosing throughout the judicial proceedings.
