Reza Shoja-Mazraji, a Sarakhs teacher, sentenced to more than four years in prison over the January uprising

Reza Shoja-Mazraji, a permanent Education Ministry teacher in Sarakhs with 21 years of service and one of those detained in the January 2026 uprising, was sentenced to a total of more than four years in prison by Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court. According to IranWire, the teacher's case was heard in his absence.

According to this report, published citing the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations, Mr Shoja-Mazraji was sentenced to three years, six months and one day on a charge of "assembly and collusion" and to seven months and 16 days in prison on a charge of "propaganda against the system". The sentence of three years, six months and one day is considered his heaviest punishment and will be carried out if it becomes final.

Arrested at home, released on bail of two billion tomans

According to HRANA, security forces arrested the teacher on 9 January 2026, at the height of the nationwide uprising, at his home in Sarakhs. After about a month, on 7 February, he was released from the Sarakhs Intelligence Department detention facility after posting bail of two billion tomans.

The Coordination Council of Teachers' Trade Associations condemned the issuing of this sentence and described security and judicial treatment of teachers and trade activists as a clear violation of trade rights and the freedom of association and assembly.

Crackdown on teachers and January protesters

The sentence for Mr Shoja-Mazraji is part of a wave of sentences that the Islamic Republic's judiciary has been handing down, months after the January uprising, to protesters — from prison and execution sentences to summonses of teachers' trade activists such as Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi and disciplinary rulings against protesting students. In these cases, the Revolutionary Courts often hand down heavy sentences on charges such as "assembly and collusion" and "propaganda against the system", without the defendant having free access to a lawyer.

A teacher with 21 years of service was sentenced in absentia to more than four years in prison for taking part in the January uprising.

Sources

• IranWire
• HRANA