Sara Mottaghi

Additional Name(s): سارا متقی

Gender: Female

Current Location: Lakan Prison, Rasht

Perpetrator: Iran

Religion or Belief: Unspecified

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Sentence: 6 Months' Imprisonment

Date of Detainment: February/28/2023

Date of Sentencing: September/9/2023

Current Status: Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment

Reason for Persecution: Blasphemy (General) Blasphemy (Religious Figures) Women’s Rights

Nature of Charges: Blasphemy Unlawful Disobedience

Sara Mottaghi

Extra Bio Info:

Sara Mottaghi is detained for blasphemy.

On January 15, 2023, Iranian authorities raided the home of Mattaghi, a poet, for writing about an ancient Iranian day celebrating women. After seizing her cell phone, they subjected her to questioning. 

On February 28, 2023, authorities in Rasht arrested Mottaghi, reportedly because they deemed her writing as insulting to Islam. Mottaghi was reportedly charged with “insulting the sacred” and “publishing protest calls.” She was sent to Lakan Prison in Rasht. 

In September 2023, the court sentenced her to six months in prison, suspended for one year, including an eight-month media ban. 

In March 2024, activists reported that Mottaghi had been released from prison and her social media ban had been lifted.

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