News Center- Nasim Soltanbeygi, an Iranian journalist and human rights defender, was released from Evin prison on March 9, 2024 after being granted a medical leave. However, the journalist is at risk of being returned to prison on June 7, 2025.

“I am deeply concerned by reports that Ms. Nasim Soltanbeygi, a journalist and human rights defender who has been on medical furlough, is at risk of being returned to prison,” Mai Sato, UN Rights Rapporteur for Iran, said in a post on Wednesday.

“Ms. Soltanbeygi was summoned to serve her sentence on 21 November 2023. On 9 March 2024, she was temporarily released for urgent medical treatment,” she said in the post.

“According to information received, in September 2024 and February 2025, Iran's Legal Medicine Organization (LMO) assessed Ms. Soltanbeygi as unfit for imprisonment due to serious physical and mental health concerns, recommending an alternative sentence. Despite this assessment, Branch 36 of the Appeal Court of the Islamic Revolutionary Court has not issued an alternative sentence. Instead, it has referred the case back to the Enforcement Branch of the court. As Ms. Soltanbeygi’s furlough ends on 7 June 2025, she must report to the prosecutor’s office, where she may be taken back into custody.”

Mai Sato urged Iranian authorities to “follow the LMO findings and revisit the concerns raised in the communication regarding Ms. Soltanbeygi's conviction for her journalistic and human rights work.”