Mahvash Sabet

A literary writer, poet, and member of the Baha'i community, Mahvash Sabet was arrested in July 2022. In November, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on national… More

Mona Borzouei

Borzouei was arrested and taken into state custody on September 28, 2022, a week after posting a video of herself reciting a poem in support of the Mahsa Amini… More

Sara Mottaghi

A poet and online commentator, Mottaghi was summoned to court after writing a piece favoring the preservation of a pre-Islamic Iranian celebration of Sepandarmazgan. She was charged with blasphemy… More

Behrouz Yasemi

On October 17, 2022, Yasemi, a Kurdish poet from Ivangharb, was arrested shortly after posting a video in which he recited a poem about Mahsa Amini, the young woman… More

Faramarz Sehdehi

Sehdehi is a poet and a member of the Iranian Writers' Association, who has published hundreds of poems since the 1970s. He was interrogated and censored in the past… More

Kamran Takuk

Takuk, a Kurdish poet, was arrested on January 11, 2022, and then released on bail 6 days later. He was convicted on February 21, 2022 and sentenced to 28… More

Arash Ramezani

Literary writer and poet Ramezani was arrested at his workplace on October 23, 2022 and taken to an unknown location. No charges were brought against him, but he remained… More

Atefeh Chaharmahalian

Chaharmahalian is a literary activist, poet, and former board member of the Iranian Writers' Association. She was arrested in October 2022 after receiving phone calls warning her not to… More

Behnaz Amani

Scholar and poet Behnaz Amani was arrested in October 2022 and indicted with “conspiracy against national security” in November for supporting the protests. Her cervical cancer advanced during her… More

Vairamuthu Ramasamy Vairamuthu

Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu was the target of protest in 2018 after he made comments linking the 7th century female mystic poet Andal to the Devadasi community, which… More