16-Year Prison Sentence for Kurdish Couple Over Religious Activities: Belief Equated with Security Charges

Seadat Tashkeh and her husband Moloud Atashbar, two Kurdish citizens from Mahabad, have each been sentenced to eight years in prison in what reports indicate is related to their religious activities. The couple has been in detention since June 2023 and are now serving a combined 16-year sentence in Urmia Central Prison—another case demonstrating that in the Islamic Republic, peaceful religious activity can be met with serious security charges.

According to human rights organizations, Seadat Tashkeh and her husband Moloud Atashbar, both 43 years old and residents of Mahabad, have been sentenced to eight years of punitive imprisonment each by one of the branches of Urmia Revolutionary Court on charges of “forming or managing an association intended to undermine the country’s security” in connection with their religious activities.

The couple was arrested on June 5, 2023, while working on a farm on the outskirts of Mahabad by Ministry of Intelligence forces. After being transferred to the Intelligence Office detention center in Urmia, they were held in solitary confinement for over two months while undergoing interrogation—a period marked by deprivation of phone contact and family visits.

After interrogations concluded, the couple was transferred to Urmia Central Prison and subsequently sentenced to eight-year terms. According to reports, Seadat Tashkeh is held in the women’s ward while Moloud Atashbar is held in the special ward for political and ideological prisoners.

Seadat Tashkeh suffers from a nervous system disorder. About seven years ago, the couple migrated first to Turkey and then to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to pursue her treatment, but due to failure to complete the treatment process, they returned to Iran and began working in a garden near Mahabad.

The couple’s arrest at their workplace and continued imprisonment raise serious questions about Seadat Tashkeh’s health condition and her access to appropriate medical care. Published reports have not provided new details about her medical condition in prison or the extent of her access to medical services. Given her reported illness, it is the responsibility of prison authorities and the judicial system to ensure her continued and effective treatment.

One of the primary concerns in this case is the use of security charges to deal with religious activities. The charges against this couple, rather than pointing to a specific criminal act, focus on forming or managing an association aimed at undermining the country’s security—while the reports identify religious activities as the basis of the case.

If the activity in question consisted solely of worship, gathering, or peaceful participation in a religious community, converting it into a security case and issuing a long-term prison sentence would constitute a serious violation of freedom of religion and conscience. The judicial authorities must present specific evidence of criminal conduct; merely holding a different belief or participating in religious activity should not substitute for proof of a crime.

Another important point is Article 23 of the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, which prohibits thought investigation and stipulates that no one can be subject to harassment or prosecution merely for holding an opinion. Article 13 names only Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as recognized religious minorities—a limitation that, from the perspective of equal citizenship rights, renders the status of other religious and belief communities more vulnerable.

The case of Seadat Tashkeh and Moloud Atashbar cannot be viewed as merely a local or isolated matter. Reports by international human rights bodies indicate pressure on a wide spectrum of religious and belief groups in Iran.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated in its October 2026 report that Islamic Republic authorities continue to arrest and imprison individuals for freely exercising the right to religion and belief, including religious leaders, members of religious communities, and advocates of freedom of conscience. The report also references the arrest and imprisonment of Bahai and Christian citizens and mistreatment of some prisoners.

United Nations experts also expressed concern in July 2026 about arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, and mistreatment of members of the Bahai community, reporting the detention or imprisonment of at least 57 members of this community.

Regarding Christians, particularly converted Christian citizens, organizations defending religious freedom have reported arrests, interrogations, closure of house churches, and issuance of lengthy sentences on charges such as acting against national security. Sunnis face limitations including discrimination in access to certain employment opportunities and restrictions on building mosques in several major cities. Yarsanis and Gonabadi Dervishes have also been affected by discrimination and security-related treatment in human rights reports.

These cases demonstrate that the problem is not merely about dealing with one religion or a specific group; a system that does not recognize freedom of belief can target followers of different religions, Islamic sects, and even individuals with non-religious beliefs. Of course, the nature of pressure, severity of treatment, and degree of legal protection for these groups vary; however, what many of these cases have in common is the securitization of peaceful activities and the restriction of the right to choose and express opinion.

The arrest and conviction of a couple for religious activities, with security charges and lengthy prison sentences, once again raises the question of accountability by the Islamic Republic’s judicial system. If these two citizens’ charges are based on peaceful religious activities, issuing such sentences not only violates freedom of religion and conscience but also sends a threatening message to other citizens who hold different faiths or beliefs.

The state is obligated to protect the right of all citizens to hold, change, or express religious and non-religious beliefs—not to use difference in belief as a pretext for arrest, deprivation, and imprisonment.

No citizen should be deprived of freedom and security for being Muslim, Sunni, Bahai, Christian, Yarsani, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or atheist. The right to belief, worship, and choice of opinion is not a government privilege but a human right that must be guaranteed for all without discrimination.