IRAN: ARBITRARY DETENTION OF KURDISH JINA MODARES GORJI

The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran to take all necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 15/2025 concerning Jina Modares Gorji, asking the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately and unconditionally release Jina Modares Gorji and to accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.

Read the full WGAD opinion concerning Jina Modares Gorji (Islamic Republic of Iran): Opinion No. 15/2025.

ARREST OF JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER

Jina Modares Gorji, a national of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a journalist and human rights defender. She advocates for the rights of the Kurdish ethnic community and the broader promotion of Kurdish sociocultural rights. Deeply committed to exposing discrimination, injustice, and human rights violations, Ms. Gorji actively documents and reports on acts of violence.

On 21 September 2022, she was arrested by the Iranian intelligence due to the start of the movement ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ following the death of Jina Masha Amini, she was charged with threatening national security by gathering and colluding and with spreading the propaganda against the state and was later after 11 days released on bail of 10 billion rials, after been on 3-day hunger strike. She was then under surveillance, and the authorities issued orders to cease her activities. On 12 February 2023, she refused to sign the pardon scheme that had been announced, as that would constitute an acknowledgement of the charges against her.

She was later arrested again on 10 April 2023 and detained for almost three months before being released on 3 July 2023 on bail. Two court sessions were held in September 2023 and April 2024 before she was sentenced on 23 May 2024 to 10 years’ imprisonment for “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security”; an additional 10 years for “collaborating with a hostile Government”; and a further 1 year for carrying out “propaganda activities against the State”.

On 7 October 2024, the Sanandej Court of Appeal reduced Ms. Gorji’s prison sentence to 28 months. Ms. Gorji was imprisoned on 2 November 2024 at Sanandaj Central Prison.

No response was received from the Government to the communication. The Government also did not seek an extension of the time limit for its reply. 

ARRESTED WITHOUT WARRANT

According to the source, Ms. Gorji was arrested on two different occasions and both without an arrest warrant. In the absence of an answer from the government, the Working Group found, as such, that her arrest violated article 9 of the Covenant.

Hence, the Working Group found that the arrests and detentions of Ms. Gorji lacked a legal basis; thus, her deprivation of liberty qualifies as arbitrary under category I.

DETAINED FOR EXERCISING RIGHTS TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION AND PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND RIGHTS

Ms. Gorji’s arrest was a result of her work to preserve the Kurdish culture and promote women’s rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The source submitted that the initial lengthy sentence was to isolate Ms. Gorji and prevent her from defending human rights. The Working Group recalled that the right to freedom of expression and opinion of activists includes the right to criticize or openly and publicly evaluate their Government without fear of interference or punishment, as recognized by the Covenant. The working group found that detention of Ms. Gorji resulted from the legitimate exercise of her freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and rights as an ethnic and linguistic minority as protected under article 19, 21, 22, and 27 of the Covenant and articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Working Group raised some concerns regarding the charges brought against Ms. Gorji. Indeed, it recalled that vague and overly broad laws are consistently used in the Islamic Republic of Iran to criminalize the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, in contradiction with the principle of legality.

The working group concluded that Ms. Gorji’s detention was arbitrary and fell under category II.

BREACH OF FAIR TRIAL, DUE PROCESS RIGHTS AND DENIED ACCESS TO A LAWYER

The source submitted that the court's trial was a “show trial” and was largely based on Ministry of Intelligence reports claiming that Ms. Gorji’s work and activism constituted ‘security threats’ to the country. The source submitted that in reality, the charges were punishment for her peaceful human rights activism. It also argued that Ms. Gorji’s prosecution was part of a broader pattern of repression targeting Kurdish minorities, particularly since the beginning of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, during which Kurdish journalists, teachers and activists had been sentenced to disproportionately heavy prison terms. The Working Group referred to the findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, which had documented that Kurdish and Baluch minorities, including women human rights defenders, had been disproportionately targeted since 2022 through arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and charges related to national security used to silence dissent. The Working Group noted that these patterns were consistent with its previous findings concerning disproportionate and pretextual charges imposed on individuals for the peaceful exercise of their rights. It considered that the twenty-one-year sentence imposed on Ms. Gorji, although later reduced on appeal to twenty-eight months, was intended to punish her for her human rights activities and to silence her.

The source also submitted that Ms. Gorji was detained for almost 3 months in the women’s ward of Sananaj Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre and spent the first month of her detention in solitary confinement under harsh conditions. She was also denied access to a lawyer. It further recalled that all persons deprived of liberty had the right to legal assistance by counsel of their choice from the outset of detention, and that denying such access violated the principle of equality of arms and the right to defence guaranteed under article 14 (1) and (3) (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The working group concluded that Ms. Gorji’s detention was arbitrary and fell under category III.

DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT BASED ON HER POLITICAL OPINION,  HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS ACTIVITIES AND HER GENDER AND ETHNICITY STATUS

The source reported that the arrest, detention, and sentencing of Ms. Jina Modares Gorji formed part of a broader pattern of repression against the Kurdish community in the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly targeting those promoting cultural and linguistic rights. It noted systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities, especially in Kurdish regions. No response was provided by the Government. The Working Group observed that Ms. Gorji, a Kurdish journalist and human rights defender, had been targeted on account of her ethnicity and activism. It referred to previous findings by UN experts documenting long-standing discrimination and persecution of Kurdish minorities and human rights defenders in Iran. The source added that Ms. Gorji, an advocate for Kurdish women and girls, had faced repeated arrests, surveillance, and pressure since the start of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, in the wider context of repression against women’s rights defenders.

The Working Group recalled similar cases involving women opposing compulsory veiling and noted that Ms. Gorji’s detention was also linked to her gender and women’s rights advocacy. It concluded that she had been deprived of her liberty on discriminatory grounds, including her ethnicity, political opinion, and gender, in violation of articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 (1) and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The working group, therefore, concluded that Ms. Gorji’s detention was arbitrary under category V.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION

In light of the foregoing, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered that the detention of Ms. Jina Modares Gorji was arbitrary and fell under categories I, II, III and V because the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Jina Modares Gorji was in contravention of articles 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 19 and 20  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, 14, 19, 21, 22, 26 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Working Group recommended that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Ms. Gorji without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms. The Working group considered that, taking into account all circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release Ms. Gorji immediately and accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.