Sanandaj – Zhina Modarres Gorji, Journalist and Women's Rights Activist, Granted Prison Leave
On Tuesday, May 6, 2025, Zhina Modarres Gorji, a journalist and women's rights activist, was granted a 10-day furlough from the Sanandaj Juvenile Correction and Rehabilitation Center.
According to an informed source, she will be on leave for ten days.
On Saturday, November 4, 2023, she was sent to prison with a group of women from Sanandaj to serve her sentence.
She had received a summons for enforcement of sentence from the 4th Branch of the Sanandaj Criminal Enforcement Court on October 23, 2023.
Zhina’s prison sentence was reduced by the Sanandaj Court of Appeals from 21 years to 28 months. According to the appellate verdict issued by the 4th Branch and delivered to her lawyer on October 3, 2023, she was acquitted of “collaboration with a hostile state”, but sentenced to:
1 year for “propaganda against the regime”, and
16 months for “forming an illegal group with the aim of overthrowing the regime.”
Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, in cases involving multiple charges, the harshest sentence—in this case, 16 months of discretionary imprisonment—is enforceable.
Previously, on May 26, 2024, she had been sentenced by Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Karami, to:
10 years for “forming an illegal group with intent to overthrow the regime”
10 years for “collaborating with hostile groups and governments”
1 year for “propaganda against the regime”
The court had also ruled that 10 years of her sentence would be enforceable, along with banishment to Hamedan Prison.
The accusations against her included:
Founding the “Zhivano Association” with a feminist ideology and anti-regime aims
Purposeful participation in protests and chanting radical slogans
Ties with anti-regime figures
Participation in international conferences and training workshops
Publishing online content and interviews with foreign media aimed at tarnishing the country’s image and stirring unrest after the death of Mahsa Amini
The Revolutionary Court’s verdict was based on reports from the Ministry of Intelligence, which also justified her transfer to Hamedan Prison due to the risk of her engaging in “subversive activities” in Sanandaj Prison. This was cited as a “national security threat” under Article 513 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Separately, in the case related to “spreading falsehoods and inciting violence,” the Sanandaj Criminal Court Branch 2 was assigned jurisdiction.
On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, after 84 days of pretrial detention, Zhina Modarres Gorji was released on bail of 5 billion tomans from the Sanandaj Juvenile Correction and Rehabilitation Center.
In May 2023, the First Branch of the Sanandaj Prosecutor’s Office dismissed her complaint against agents of the Kurdistan Intelligence Department, in which she had accused them of unlawful detention, denial of constitutional rights, abduction, physical assault, and verbal abuse.
On April 28, 2023, Judge Alireza Faryabi from the same branch ruled her complaint unsubstantiated due to lack of evidence.
On May 10, 2023, she was moved from solitary confinement to the general ward of the Sanandaj facility.
On Tuesday, April 9, 2023, Zhina was rearrested by security forces in Sanandaj.
She had initially been arrested during the early phase of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, on Safari Street in Sanandaj in a violent arrest by Intelligence agents. After spending 40 days in the women’s ward of Sanandaj Prison, she was released on November 1, 2022, on 100 million toman bail, which was later increased to 1 billion tomans by the investigative judge.
