Babak Moradifar summoned to prison; 30-month sentence for backing the Dey uprising

Babak Moradifar, a political activist and law graduate, has been summoned to Branch 11 of the Criminal Sentence Enforcement Office of the Tehran Security Prosecutor's Office to serve a 30-month prison sentence. He announced on Instagram, by publishing a picture of the judicial summons, that his case had been referred for enforcement.

A sentence for supporting the Dey uprising

The sentence was issued at first instance on 8 September 2026 by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Amouzad. The charges against him are described as "assembly and collusion with intent to disrupt internal security through propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic" and "insulting the leader".

What the Islamic Republic's judiciary cites as grounds for these charges is his support for the Dey 1404 uprising (December 2025–January 2026), his attendance at the seventh-day memorial ceremony of Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer, in Mashhad, and his re-posting of a video from Alikordi's personal page on a media outlet based abroad. Once again, expressing an opinion and standing in solidarity with protesters has led to a prison sentence for a legal professional.

Arrest, no news of his whereabouts and injury during interrogation

Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Moradifar at his home in Tehran on the morning of 9 January 2026, at the height of the Dey uprising. According to HRANA, his family had no word of where he was being held for ten days, until he called them briefly from Evin prison.

He was held for nearly 40 days in Evin and then in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary and, according to human rights sources, was denied access to a lawyer. A source close to his family told HRANA that the tendon in his right leg was injured during interrogation and that, despite doctors' advice, it was not put in a splint or cast. About two months after his arrest, Moradifar was released on bail because he needed medical treatment.

Third case in four years

This is not the first time Moradifar has been targeted by the security apparatus. In autumn 2022, during Iran's national revolution, he was arrested and held in Wards 209 and 240 of Evin prison. In the Iranian month of Esfand that same year (February–March 2023), Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced him to four years and three months in prison.

He was arrested again in the month of Aban 1402 (October–November 2023) after being summoned to the Evin prosecutor's office. Before going to the prosecutor's office, he said in a video that his activities had taken place only online and within the law, and declared that any confession broadcast from him in the future would have been extracted under pressure.

A fixed pattern of repression against jurists

Moradifar's case is part of a pattern in which the Islamic Republic silences jurists and lawyers who support protesters and the victims of repression with heavy security sentences. His summons to serve the sentence comes at a time when, according to published reports, treatment of the injuries from his detention is still ongoing. DIAR will continue to follow his case and those of other political prisoners.