Iranian freelance journalist Vida Rabbani, who reports for reformist newspapers Seda Weekly, Shargh Daily, and on social media site X, is imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison, where she is serving the first of two sentences totaling 17 years, both for her journalism.
Iranian security forces arrested Rabbani from her home on September 24, 2022, for reporting on protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death. Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died in police custody after she was detained for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law.
Rabbani, who is also a member of the reformist Union of Islamic Iran People Party, was initially held in solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin prison, under the supervision of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, according to a source familiar with a case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. She is currently in the women’s ward of Evin prison.
On December 31, 2022, Rabbani was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for “acting and colluding against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system,” according to the state-run news website Khabaronline.
Prior to her September 2022 arrest she had been sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison for “blasphemy,” “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “disrupting public order” in a separate August 2022 case over her activities on the social audio app Clubhouse, where she helped convene a chat room about politics and social issues. She was not taken into custody at the time.
Rabbani is currently serving her sentence in the Clubhouse case and will then begin her sentence in the 2022 case related to her coverage of the protest movement. It’s likely that authorities will allow parts of the sentences to run concurrently.
On May 12, 2024 Rabbani’s lawyer, Parto Borhanpour, said on X that Branch 36 of Tehran’s Appeals Court denied Rabbani’s appeal for conditional release.
CPJ’s source said that Rabbani suffers from asthma and neurological problems. She also suffers from several underlying conditions that include nerve inflammation in her feet and eyes, and chronic headaches.
On June 11, 2023 Rabbani was placed on furlough due to her declining health, Shargh Daily reported. Her furlough was extended to two months, but she was summoned back to prison on August 25, according to CPJ’s source.
Rabbani was previously imprisoned for one month in 2020.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York in late 2024 for comment on Rabbani’s case and those of other imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.