Derakhshan is a Baha’i adherent and poet who has long publicly criticized the Iranian government’s treatment of the Baha’i people. In 2010, he was arrested for a letter to the Supreme Leader and spent 36 days in solitary confinement. He was also detained in 2012 for “propaganda.” He was most recently arrested on January 11, 2022 and released on bail on February 8, 2022.