Heavy Sentences Issued for December Protesters; From 10 Years Imprisonment for a Couple to Flogging and Exile for a Kurdish Student
Homa Timouri and Yaser Azadeh, a couple arrested during the December 2024 protests, have been sentenced to a combined 10 years imprisonment, while Tara Farhangiyan, a 21-year-old Kurdish student from Qorveh, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment, 31 lashes, two years exile, and a fine of 120 million tomans; sentences that have further heightened concerns about the Islamic Republic’s judicial treatment of protest detainees.
As judicial sentences continue to be issued against December 2024 protest detainees, Homa Timouri and her husband Yaser Azadeh in Tehran, and Tara Farhangiyan, a student from Qorveh, have faced severe judicial sentences.
According to published reports, Homa Timouri, a master’s graduate in political thought from Tarbiat Modares University, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the presiding judge Abolqasem Solouti.
The charge against her was titled “assembly and conspiracy against national security.” In addition to imprisonment, the court imposed a two-year ban on leaving the country and prohibition from social media activity for Timouri, and confiscated her mobile phone.
Her husband Yaser Azadeh, who holds a master’s degree in Western philosophy from Shahid Beheshti University, has also been sentenced to five years imprisonment according to a report published by “United Students.” This brings the total prison sentence for the couple to 10 years.
Previously, Iran International had reported that Yaser Azadeh, Homa Timouri, and “Rouhangiz Imani,” Azadeh’s mother, were arrested at their Tehran home on January 25, 2025, and transferred to Evin Prison. Human rights reports have also documented the names of Homa Timouri and Yaser Azadeh among the December 2024 protest detainees.
In another case, Tara Farhangiyan, a 21-year-old student of physical education from Qorveh, has faced a series of judicial punishments.
According to a report by the HANA human rights organization (an independent organization covering human rights violations in Kurdistan), Branch 102 of the Qorveh Criminal Court under the presiding judge “Hadi Khani” has sentenced the student to one year of imprisonment, 31 lashes, and two years of exile. The charge in this case was titled “disrupting public peace and order.”
HANA also reported that another case against Farhangiyan with the charge of “assembly and conspiracy to commit crimes against internal security” was being heard at Branch One of the Qorveh Revolutionary Court under the presiding judge “Hossein Bigdeloo,” and at the time of the organization’s report publication, the verdict in this case had not yet been formally communicated to her.
In reports published by other human rights organizations, it was stated that in addition to the above, the Qorveh Revolutionary Court sentenced Farhangiyan on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “assembly and conspiracy to commit crimes against internal security” to pay a fine of 120 million tomans to the state treasury.
According to the same report, the total punishments announced for this Kurdish student include one year imprisonment, 31 lashes, two years exile to Zabol, and a fine of 120 million tomans.
Tara Farhangiyan was arrested by security forces during the December 2024 protests and was released after some time on bail. HANA stated that her arrest date was January 8, 2026, and wrote that Farhangiyan was released approximately three weeks later, on January 28.
The human rights organization also criticized the issuance of the flogging sentence against this young student, emphasizing that corporal punishments such as flogging contradict the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment under international law.
These sentences were issued while judicial cases against December 2024 protest detainees continue in various cities across Iran.
The cases of Homa Timouri and Yaser Azadeh in Tehran and Tara Farhangiyan’s case in Qorveh, although different in terms of charges and sentence details, share one common point: all three individuals have faced severe judicial sentences following their arrest during the December protests.
Regarding Tara Farhangiyan, an international human rights organization has confirmed the details of the imprisonment, flogging, and exile sentence and has expressed concern about her punishment.
Regarding Homa Timouri and Yaser Azadeh, published reports about their arrest at their home show that their case has been in the judicial process since the first weeks of the December protests.
The issuance of a combined 10-year prison sentence for Homa Timouri and Yaser Azadeh and the announced punishments against Tara Farhangiyan have once again placed the issue of how the Islamic Republic’s judicial system treats protesters and civil activists in the spotlight of human rights organizations.
