Kachoui Prison; Soheila Hejab's Online Trial Held Without a Lawyer on Security Charges and "Protest Leadership" June 25, 2026
June 25, 2026; Soheila Hejab Bidsoorkhi, a former political prisoner and one of the detainees of the December 2025 protests who has been held in Kachoui Prison in Karaj for over five months, was recently tried in a brief, minutes-long online court session at one of the branches of the Fardis Court in Karaj, presided over by Judge “Mohammadpour.” She faces charges including “acting against national security and the regime,” “creating and organizing protest groups,” and “leadership in the December protests,” and is currently awaiting her verdict. According to reports, given the nature of the charges, she faces a high risk of being handed a heavy sentence.
An informed source, confirming this news, told Kurdpa: Soheila Hejab Bidsoorkhi, a Kurdish citizen from Kermanshah and resident of Karaj, who was arrested on January 3, 2026, and transferred to Kachoui Prison, was tried in this online court session in late June 2026. According to this source, she has been denied access to a lawyer throughout this entire period and is being held in substandard conditions in prison.
The source further added that on June 22, 2026, Soheila Hejab sent a message regarding the status of Kachoui Prison, stating that the prison's water and electricity had been cut off for two consecutive days and the ventilation systems had broken down, leaving prisoners in the heat and darkness. She described the conditions at Kachoui Prison as “extremely dire.”
Soheila Hejab Bidsoorkhi, a 36-year-old political activist from Kermanshah and resident of Karaj, was arrested by security forces on Saturday, January 3, 2026, without a judicial warrant and transferred to Kachoui Prison in Fardis, Karaj.
She is among the political prisoners who have spent terms of imprisonment over the past years in Evin, Qarchak (Varamin), Sanandaj Central, and Dieselabad (Kermanshah) prisons. Throughout her imprisonment, she has gone on hunger strikes multiple times to protest her judicial process, detention conditions, and deprivation of medical services, and has published numerous letters and audio files from inside prison.
History of Arrests and Convictions
December 2018: She was first arrested on December 28, 2018, by security forces affiliated with the IRGC Fajr Intelligence of Fars Province in Shiraz. Following interrogations, she was transferred to Adelabad Prison in Shiraz and was ultimately sentenced to two years of discretionary imprisonment by the Shiraz Revolutionary Court. This sentence was upheld on appeal. After serving approximately five months of her sentence, she was granted conditional pardon and released.
June 2019: She was arrested again on June 6, 2019, by IRGC Intelligence forces and transferred to Evin Prison. After months of detention and going on a hunger strike to protest the denial of temporary release, she was temporarily released on March 14, 2020, upon posting a bail of three billion Tomans.
March 2020: Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, sentenced her to a total of 18 years of discretionary imprisonment on charges including “propaganda against the regime,” “assembly and collusion,” “disturbing public opinion with the intent to riot,” “forming a group for women's rights,” and “demanding a referendum and constitutional change.” This sentence was upheld in its entirety on May 23, 2020, by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals. Upon exiting the appeals court, she was violently arrested by agents of the Sarallah Headquarters of Tehran, dragged on the ground, beaten, and transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin—details she later confirmed in an audio file.
December 2020: While imprisoned in Qarchak, she faced a new judicial case. On December 2, 2020, she was tried at Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges of “publishing lies to disturb public opinion” and “propaganda activity against the regime,” though reports indicate no verdict was officially communicated to her.
May 2023: She was finally released from Kermanshah Prison on May 2, 2023. Her brother, Majid Hejab, announced her release, noting that she received her release order after her medical leave concluded and she reported back to the Central Prison of Kermanshah.
Despite her release in 2023, she was re-arrested during the wave of arrests linked to the December 2025 protests and is now awaiting a verdict in her latest case after more than five months of detention.
