In its continuous campaign to stifle dissent, the Iranian regime’s judiciary has sentenced political prisoner Bijan Kazemi to a total of 37 years and 6 months in prison. Presided over by the notorious judge Abolqasem Salavati in Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, the ruling follows 16 months of arbitrary detention, interrogation, and severe torture. This severe punishment, alongside the systematic targeting of other activists, highlights the regime’s growing reliance on judicial repression to maintain its grip on power.
Kazemi, 45, was arrested by intelligence agents in Kuhdasht, Lorestan province, on January 21, 2025. Following his arrest, he was held in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, transferred to Fashafouyeh Prison in July 2025, and later returned to Evin in October 2025.
Interrogators accused Kazemi of providing weapons to the assailant of Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh, two senior judiciary executioners who were eliminated in mid-January 2025. Razini and Moghiseh were involved in the execution of thousands of dissidents.
This is not Kazemi’s first experience with state persecution. He was previously arrested in April 2020 and spent over two years in Khorramabad Prison. Following his earlier release, he was monitored through an electronic ankle device for a year and a half, while his family faced continuous isolation, including his mother being denied visitation rights for months.
Psychiatric abuse as a tool of repression
Alongside heavy prison sentences, the clerical regime is using psychological abuse to target dissidents and their families. In a recent move, prison authorities transferred 58-year-old political prisoner Mojtaba Taghavi from prison to the Aminabad psychiatric hospital.
Taghavi was arrested in March 2024 and sentenced to six years and seven months in prison in October 2024, solely for maintaining contact with his brother, Mohammad Taghavi. Mohammad, a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), was executed by the regime on March 30, 2026. Following his brother’s execution, prison officials intensified pressure on Mojtaba by disrupting the delivery of his essential medications, culminating in his forced transfer to the psychiatric facility to further torment him.
These individual cases represent a broader pattern of state-sponsored terror. Reeling from the major nationwide uprisings of December 2025 to January 2026, the regime has expanded its repressive tactics. Inside prisons, authorities have targeted female political prisoners, particularly PMOI supporters. At Evin Prison, authorities fabricated new cases against inmates Shiva Esmaeili and Elaheh Fouladi for protesting the death of Somayeh Rashidi, who died under torture in Qarchak Prison in September 2025.
Outside prison walls, the regime routinely targets the relatives of executed dissidents to prevent mourning ceremonies from igniting public anger. On April 18, 2026, authorities arrested Akram and Azam Daneshvarkar, sisters of the executed PMOI member Akbar Daneshvarkar, for trying to retrieve their brother’s body. Similarly, prior to the execution of Babak Alipour on March 31, 2026, his elderly mother, sister, and brother were detained to deny them a final farewell.
The escalating wave of heavy sentences, psychological abuse, and family hostage-taking highlights a regime deeply terrified of its own population and the growing influence of the PMOI Resistance Units. In response to these violations, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has renewed its call to the international community, including the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran. The Iranian Resistance urges international human rights bodies to move past verbal condemnation and take concrete actions, including sending an international fact-finding mission to visit Iranian prisons, meet with political prisoners, and demand the release of all sick and arbitrarily detained individuals.