Karaj – Azhar Piri, Kurdish Journalist, Transferred to Prison to Serve Sentence

On Sunday, May 5, 2025, Azhar Piri Sarmanlou, a journalist and editor-in-chief of the international monthly Pazhuhesh-e Melal (Nations Research), was transferred to Karaj Central Prison to serve a one-year prison sentence.

According to a well-informed source, this Kurdish journalist, originally from Chaldoran and residing in Karaj, was transferred to the city’s central prison following a summons to the Enforcement Branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Karaj.

Azhar Piri Sarmanlou was arrested on October 21, 2023, at his home by security forces without a court order and was taken to the Intelligence Department’s detention center in Karaj.

He was held and interrogated there for 21 days, and after completing the interrogation process, he was transferred to the Karaj Central Detention Center.

Mr. Piri was temporarily released on November 15, 2023, upon posting bail.

His trial took place in January 2025 at Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, where he was sentenced to one year of discretionary imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda against the regime”, along with an additional two-year ban on online activity as a supplementary punishment.