Ten-Year Prison Sentence Issued for Baha’i Citizen Fahim Agahi; Solitary Confinement Continues for Serireh Moghaddas
Shortly after a severe sentence was issued against a Baha’i citizen in Tehran, the case of another Baha’i citizen in Isfahan remains in the detention and interrogation phase. Fahim Agahi, a Baha’i citizen residing in Tehran, has been sentenced by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghassem Selavati, to a total of 10 years imprisonment, a fine, asset confiscation, and social deprivation. Meanwhile, Serireh Moghaddas, a Baha’i citizen residing in Isfahan and a student at a university in China, after 35 days of detention, continues to be held in solitary confinement at Dowlatabad Prison, and his detention order has been extended for another month.
According to reports by Hengaw and Iran Wire, Fahim Agahi has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for “propaganda activity contrary to the sacred principles of Islam” and five years imprisonment for “membership in groups and associations opposed to the system.” With the application of the law on aggregation of sentences, five years of this total sentence will be enforceable. In addition to imprisonment, the court has sentenced him to pay 80 million tomans in fines, two years of deprivation from activity in cyberspace and media, two years of deprivation from membership in political parties and social groups, and two years of travel ban, and has issued an order for the confiscation of assets and equipment seized during the house search.
In this case, Agahi’s professional activity in the field of computer programming was also used as part of the grounds cited in the judicial process. He was arrested on October 19, 2025, during a security forces raid on his family home in Tehran, and after a house search and seizure of personal items, was released pending bail until the end of legal proceedings.
In Isfahan, however, the situation of Serireh Moghaddas remains unclear. This Baha’i citizen was arrested on August 25, 2026, following a raid by information ministry officials on his family home and was transferred to Dowlatabad Prison. According to published reports, during the house search, officials seized personal and electronic items, cash, gold, and even the family’s piano.
Meanwhile, the seizure of cash, gold, and even the family piano during the house search has raised serious questions about the fate of the confiscated assets and the legal basis for these actions. If these items have no connection to the charges against Serireh Moghaddas, it is unclear on what grounds a family should, in addition to enduring the detention and lack of information about their loved one’s condition, also witness the loss of their property and even personal and family belongings. The continued lack of information about the fate of these assets, combined with Moghaddas’s deprivation of a lawyer, contact with family, and medical care, has made the dimensions of this case increasingly concerning.
Now, after 35 days, Moghaddas continues to be held in solitary confinement and interrogation continues. According to sources close to the family, his detention order has been extended for another month, and the family learned of this decision through the prison administration after repeated follow-ups, while formal charges against him have not yet been announced.
Reports also indicate that Moghaddas has been deprived of telephone contact with his family and access to a lawyer during this period and has had only one brief visit with his family. He suffers from a gastrointestinal disorder, and human rights sources have expressed concern about his continued solitary confinement without adequate access to medical care.
In both cases, available information has been released primarily by human rights organizations and media outlets and sources close to the families, and the Islamic Republic’s judicial authorities have not yet published any formal or independent explanation regarding the details of the charges against Serireh Moghaddas or his physical condition. Fahim Agahi’s case has now entered the conviction phase, while Serireh Moghaddas’s case remains in the detention and interrogation phase.
