Soheila Motaei, a civil and women’s rights activist from Dehgolan, was arrested for participating in an International Women’s Day ceremony in Sanandaj.
According to Kolbarnews, on Monday, March 10, 2025, security forces detained Soheila Motaei following her participation in a Women’s Day commemoration event in Sanandaj and transferred her to an unknown location. Reports indicate that security forces carried out the arrest without presenting a judicial warrant.
Motaei had previously been arrested on January 23, 2025, by security forces in Dehgolan for participating in a general strike in Kurdish cities protesting death penalty sentences.
She was also among the detainees of the nationwide protests and was sentenced by the Criminal Court of Dehgolan to three years and nine months in prison. If her sentence is upheld on appeal, she will serve 18 months in prison under Article 134 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, which mandates enforcing the most severe punishment among multiple charges.
Her sentence, issued by Branch 2 of the Criminal Court of Dehgolan, includes:
18 months for “disrupting public order”. 13 months for “spreading false information and causing public anxiety”. 5 months for “resisting law enforcement”. 9 months for “propaganda in favor of anti-regime groups and organizations”
Motaei had been arrested before, on October 1, 2022, during the nationwide protests and was temporarily released on bail of 400 million tomans on October 17, 2022. She was arrested again on November 12, 2022, and after interrogation, was transferred to the Sanandaj Juvenile Correctional Center.
