Lashani, a Kurdish freelance journalist and political commentator, was released early from prison in 2019 but was re-arrested in June 2020 while trying to cross into Türkiye from Iraq and was brought back to Iran to face charges related to his writing. After being subject to interrogations and solitary confinement, Lashani went on a hunger strike in September 2021. He was released from prison in February 2023.