Saqqez: Dr. Bayan Salehian, an Internal Medicine Specialist, Sentenced to 5 Months in Prison and 150 Million Tomans Fine

On April 24, 2025, Dr. Bayan Salehian, an internal medicine specialist from Saqqez and one of the detainees from the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) uprising, was sentenced by the Urmia Criminal Court to five months of discretionary imprisonment and a fine of 150 million tomans.

According to a source informed by Kurdpa, Ms. Salehian was convicted on January 13, 2025, in a preliminary hearing by Branch 111 of the Second Criminal Court Complex (Shahid Beheshti Courthouse) in Urmia, presided over by Judge Farhad Far'amanesh, on the charge of "spreading falsehoods with the intent to disturb public opinion on social media." She was sentenced to five months in prison and a 150 million toman fine, a verdict that was upheld in its entirety on April 12, 2025, by the Court of Appeals.

Although other charges such as "propaganda against the Islamic Republic and in favor of opposition groups" had also been raised against her, the court's final verdict was issued solely based on "spreading falsehoods with the intent to disturb public opinion via cyberspace."

Previously, Dr. Salehian also faced another legal case at the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj. In July 2023, she had been sentenced by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court to eight months of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of "propaganda against the regime through social media posts." This sentence was later commuted to a monetary fine of 20 million tomans.

Additionally, following these politically motivated charges, in 2023, Ms. Salehian was forced to relocate from Sanandaj to Urmia after being disqualified through employment vetting procedures. However, after moving to Urmia, she faced new fabricated charges once again.

Bayan Salehian, a citizen from Saqqez, remains one of the many detainees from the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi revolutionary uprising.