HRANA – The sentence of Noyan Hejazi, a Baha’i citizen residing in Juybar, to seven months and 16 days in prison, a fine, and deprivation of social rights has been upheld in full by Branch 9 of the Mazandaran Province Court of Appeals.
According to HRANA, the prison sentence and other penalties imposed on Noyan Hejazi have been upheld on appeal.
According to the appellate court ruling, Hejazi’s conviction for what authorities described as “promoting the Baha’i faith” was upheld, along with a fine of 122 million and 501 thousand tomans and deprivation of social rights for 10 years and one day. His sentence of seven months and 16 days of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran through cyberspace” was also upheld. The appellate ruling was issued on October 5, 2026, and declared final.
The ruling was signed by Shoja Zoghi and Ebrahim Arab Kheradmardi, judicial advisers to Branch 9 of the Mazandaran Province Court of Appeals.
On May 26, 2026, Noyan Hejazi had been sentenced to the aforementioned penalties by Branch 102 of the Criminal Court II of Juybar.
In late June of this year, Hejazi was arrested after visiting the Ministry of Intelligence office in Sari to retrieve his confiscated personal belongings. According to an earlier HRANA report, he was beaten during his arrest and subsequently transferred to a hospital due to his injuries, where he was hospitalized under the supervision of security forces. He was eventually released after some time.
On June 25, 2025, Hejazi was arrested at his home by security forces without a judicial warrant. He was later released on bail on August 3 of the same year.
His wife, Lava Samimi, was also arrested when she visited Kachouei Detention Center in Sari to inquire about her husband’s situation. She was released on bail some time later.
Over the past decade, the Iranian Bahá’í community has been disproportionately targeted by Iran’s security forces and judiciary,more than any other minority group. In the past three years, an average of 72 percent of the reports on religious rights violations collected by HRANA have documented the Iranian regime’s repression of the Bahá’í community.