New Case Brought Against Political Prisoner Manouchehr Bakhtiari, Father of Pouya Bakhtiari; Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Breathing in Confinement, 1 September 2026: Manouchehr Bakhtiari, the justice-seeking father of Pouya Bakhtiari and a political prisoner currently held in Bandar Abbas Central Prison, has been sentenced to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment in a new case by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Bandar Abbas. The sentence was verbally communicated to him in prison on 1 September.

According to Breathing in Confinement, the news outlet of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Branch 1 of the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court, based on a complaint filed by the city’s prosecutor, sentenced Manouchehr Bakhtiari to five years’ imprisonment on the charge of “sending videos to foreign social media networks in a manner contrary to national security,” four years’ imprisonment on the charge of “inciting people to fight and kill one another with the intention of disrupting national security and creating social unrest,” and one year’s imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran through media alignment with opponents of the state.”

Under the law governing the consolidation of sentences, only the most severe sentence—five years’ imprisonment—will be enforceable.

Hearings in this case were held on 3 and 15 June this year before Branch 1 of the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court, where Mr Bakhtiari defended himself against the charges. The case was initiated following a complaint filed against him by the Bandar Abbas prosecutor.

On 19 January this year, while serving his two-and-a-half-year sentence of internal exile in Bandar Abbas, Manouchehr Bakhtiari was again arrested by security forces and transferred to the city’s Central Prison.

He had previously been arrested by security forces at his home in Tehran on 29 April 2021 and sentenced to three years and six months’ imprisonment, two years and six months of internal exile, and a two-year travel ban. After serving more than four years in Choobindar Prison in Qazvin, Bakhtiari was released from prison in October 2025 and transferred to Bandar Abbas to serve his sentence of internal exile.

During his imprisonment, further cases were also brought against him. In one case, he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, while in another he received a sentence of 18 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes. The 18-year prison sentence was overturned on appeal, and the case was referred back to the Revolutionary Court for retrial.

Manouchehr Bakhtiari is the father of Pouya Bakhtiari, who was killed during the nationwide protests of November 2019, and is among the family members seeking justice for those killed in the protests.

Pouya Bakhtiari, 27, was killed by gunfire in Phase 4 of Mehrshahr, Karaj, during the November 2019 protests. According to his father, Pouya joined the protesters alongside his mother and sister on the second day of demonstrations against the increase in petrol prices. He was shot in the head and died before reaching hospital.