The two-year exile sentence of labor activist Farhad Sheikhi has been enforced following his visit to the Divandarreh courthouse. He is required to report to the local police station once a week to sign in.
According to Kolbarnews, citing Herana, Farhad Sheikhi, a labor activist from Saqqez and a resident of Tehran, was transferred to Divandarreh to serve his exile sentence. His two-year exile officially began on Saturday, March 8, 2025, after he presented himself to the Divandarreh judiciary. As part of the sentence, he must report to the police station weekly.
In July 2024, Branch 1 of the Karaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Seyed Mousa Asaf Hosseini, sentenced Sheikhi to:
1 year in prison
2 years of exile in Divandarreh, Kurdistan province
2 years of travel restrictions (banned from leaving Iran)
2 years of residency restrictions in Alborz and Tehran provinces after completing his exile
On August 30, 2024, the Alborz Court of Appeals reduced his prison sentence to 8 months.
Sheikhi was ultimately arrested in late September 2024 after appearing at the First Branch of the Criminal Enforcement Office of Hashtgerd and was transferred to Karaj Central Prison to serve his sentence. On December 22, 2024, he was released under electronic monitoring. His prison sentence ended on March 4, 2025.
Previously, on May 28, 2023, he had been arrested by security forces at his home and later transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison, Karaj. After being formally charged at the Hashtgerd Prosecutor’s Office on June 13, 2023, he was released on 100 million tomans bail.
Farhad Sheikhi has a history of previous arrests and convictions for his activism. He was last released from prison on February 7, 2023, under a general amnesty decree.
