Artin Ghazanfari, Baha'i photojournalist, sentenced to 26 years in prison

Artin Ghazanfari, a photojournalist and Baha'i citizen held in Greater Tehran Prison, has been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison by Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolghasem Salavati. He was notified of the verdict on Tuesday, 27 October 2026.

He was arrested at his home in Tehran on 19 January 2026, during the days of the Dey uprising. Security agents searched his home and workplace and took away his electronic devices, books, and work and personal equipment.

The charges and the breakdown of Artin Ghazanfari's sentence

According to the verdict, 20 years were handed down for "media activity", five years for "assembly and collusion" and one year for "propaganda against the system". A source close to the Ghazanfari family said the set penalty for the first charge is 10 years, but Judge Salavati doubled it by invoking the law on harsher penalties for espionage.

The same source said Ghazanfari suffers from heart failure, high blood pressure and asthma. Prison medical staff have asked for him to be transferred to medical centres outside the prison, but the judge in the case has refused, leaving him without specialist treatment.

Crackdown on photographers and journalists after the Dey uprising

The 20-year sentence for media work is one of the heaviest handed down in the months since the Dey uprising for recording and publishing images. Abolghasem Salavati, head of Branch 15 of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, has issued heavy sentences in many political cases in past years.

This same week, Tehran's Revolutionary Court sentenced Jafar Panahi to five years in prison and the confiscation of all his property, and before that a forced confession video of Ehsan Arbab, a detained blogger, was released.

Ghazanfari is a Baha'i; Baha'i citizens have faced arrest, exclusion from education and confiscation of property because of their faith since the first years of the Islamic Republic.

A photojournalist arrested during the Dey uprising has been given 20 years in prison for media work.