Former Iranian Deputy Interior Minister sentenced to one year and two months in prison for anti-state propaganda

The Iranian authorities have sentenced this Monday to one year and two months in prison the former Iranian Deputy Minister of the Interior Mostafá Tajzadé, who held the position during the mandate of the reformist Mohamad Khatami (1997-2005), for “propaganda” against the State.

The opponent – very critical of the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – received the sentence during a hearing held this Monday in a Tehran court after the opening of a new case against him last December, according to the NGO HRANA.

The prominent politician was already sentenced in July 2025 to five years in prison on similar charges. Likewise, in December 2024 he was sentenced to one year in prison for “propaganda” and five for “attacking state security.”

Tajzadé was sentenced in 2022 to eight years for sedition and collusion against security, as well as for spreading lies and propaganda against the regime” in the context of protests over the death in custody of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. Five of the years were executory under a law on simultaneous serving of sentences.

The politician was arrested in 2009 – and released in 2016 – during demonstrations against the results of the presidential elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad obtained a second term amid allegations of fraud and manipulation by the reformists Mehdi Karrubi and Mirhosein Mousavi, candidates for the Presidency.