Servenaz AHMADI

Sarvenaz Ahmadi is an Iranian translator, journalist, and human rights defender who was was conditionally released on 29 December 2024 after serving about 19 months of a six-year prison sentence. Ahmadi’s recent prosecution is believed to be linked to her writings and reporting on the mass protest movement triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody on 16 September 2022. While imprisoned, she faced censorship, as the prison authorities refused to deliver her translations to her family due to their content.

Ahmadi was arrested twice for covering the Mahsa Amini protests. On 6 November 2022, she and her husband, journalist Kamyar Fakour, were arrested only a few weeks after their wedding. The couple were released on bail almost a month later. On 3 January 2023, Ahmadi was sentenced to six years in prison, while Fakour received a one-year sentence, alongside the activation of a separate two-year sentence from 2021. They were convicted of charges including ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ and ‘gathering and colluding against national security’.

On 10 May 2023, the couple were arrested and sent to prison to serve their sentences. They were denied amnesty on 20 August 2023 because of their alleged ‘membership in hostile groups with the intention of toppling the Islamic Republic.’ Ahmadi went on medical strike, refusing to take her epilepsy medication from 9 September 2024 to 6 October 2024, in protest against the denial of her medical furlough request. She was granted a three-day medical leave from prison in late October 2024.

Ahmadi, born in 1998, is known for her journalistic work and advocacy for children's rights. She has also translated several books into Persian, including ‘Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle,’ by Silvia Federici (PM Press, 2012)and ‘Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community‘ by Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James (Falling Wall Press, 1972).