Mohammad Najafi
Age: 51
Activism/rights: Human rights lawyer
Status: Evin Prison
Judicial status: 22 years and 6 months' imprisonment
Violations: Judicial harassment; torture and ill-treatment; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of a fair trial and due process; denial of medical care; prolonged solitary confinement; harassment of family members; familial punishment
Mohammad Najafi is a lawyer and human rights activist who has faced multiple arrests since the 2009 protests. Since 2018, he has been caught in a web of fabricated cases that overlap and ensure he is kept behind bars for years to come. Authorities also threatened to open a fabricated cases against his son, Amirhossein Najafi.³⁴ On 15 January 2018, after publicly disclosing the suspicious death of detained protester Vahid Heydari in Arak, Najafi was arrested and sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes.
In November 2018, Branch One of the Arak Revolutionary Court sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment on charges including “assisting a hostile government”, “insulting the leadership”, and “propaganda against the system”; the sentence was upheld on appeal.
In separate cases before the Shazand Judiciary, he was later sentenced to an additional one year’s imprisonment, and two years for publishing a critical letter addressed to the Supreme Leader; the latter sentence was also upheld on appeal. While on furlough, Mohammad was sentenced on 7 February 2020 by Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court to 6 months’ imprisonment for delivering a speech at the home of Gohar Eshghi, mother of Sattar Beheshti, a blogger who died under torture in cyber police detention. Mohammad suffered a heart attack in Arak Central Prison in August 2021 but was denied urgent medical treatment outside prison.
He went on medical furlough on 19 December 2021 after going on hunger strike and returned to prison on 11 July 2022 before completing the necessary medical treatment. In 2023, after publication of an audio file from prison and his support for the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, he was sentenced by Branch 106 of Criminal Court of Arak to 2 years’ imprisonment and a fine for “spreading false information”, and by Branch 2 of the Arak Revolutionary Court to 1 year’s imprisonment for “propaganda against the system”. In April 2023, while on medical furlough and before completing treatment, Mohammad was summoned back to prison and transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran, far from his family in Arak.
In 2025, Branch One of the High Disciplinary Court for Judges revoked Mohammad Najafi’s law licence and permanently disbarred him. In the same year, he received the International Human Rights Prize of the International Center for Human Rights (ICHR) in recognition of his efforts to defend human rights and justice. Mohammad survived the Israeli attack on Evin Prison in June 2025 but sustained injuries and suffered hearing problems. That night, security forces forcibly transferred him and dozens of other prisoners from Evin Prison to Greater Tehran Prison (Fashafuyeh) in handcuffs and leg shackles. In August 2025, he was transferred back to Evin Prison amid violent treatment by prison officials. In November 2025, following publication of an audio file criticising the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Mohammad was sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment, a fine, a 2-year ban on membership in political and social groups, and a travel ban on charges of “propaganda activity against the system” and “spreading false information”. On 26 January 2026, in an audio message from prison, he described the Leader of the Islamic Republic as the “Leader of Crime” who had built “minarets from the corpses of Iranians” to preserve his power. In response, Evin Prison authorities prevented his transfer to hospital for treatment of his heart condition, diabetes, and blast-related injuries.