Poet Mahvash Sabet Faces Life-Threatening Return to Prison in Iran
PEN Norway calls on Iranian authorities to respect international obligations and ensure necessary medical care to Mahvash Sabet.
Renowned Iranian poet Mahvash Sabet, who recently underwent open-heart surgery, is suffering from severe health problems. Despite the potentially life-threatening risks, Iranian authorities are threatening to return her to inhumane prison conditions.
PEN Norway calls on Iranian authorities to uphold their international obligations and ensure Sabet receives proper medical treatment.
“Mahvash Sabet has dedicated her life to education and human rights. It is unacceptable that she continues to endure the inhumane treatment imposed by the Iranian authorities,” PEN Norway said in a statement.
Visited Norway in 2019
PEN Norway has maintained a close contact with Mahvash Sabet for many years. She has been a powerful advocate for freedom of expression and human rights in Iran, and she last visited Norway in 2019.
During her visit, Sabet shared her experiences and poetry with Norwegian audiences. Her book, Prison Poems, was published by Bokvennen and translated by Arne Ruste.
Persecution and Imprisonment
Mahvash Sabet, born on February 4, 1953, in Ardestan, Iran, is a prominent figure in the Bahá’í community. Holding a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she worked as a teacher and school principal. However, following the Iranian Revolution, Sabet, like many other Bahá’ís, was banned from public education due to her faith.
In 2008, Sabet was arrested alongside other Bahá’í leaders. Despite a lack of evidence, they were accused of espionage and spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 2017 after serving 10 years.
Sabet, pictured with PEN Norway’s Free Cities Coordinator, Ingeborg Kværne, in 2019.
Unfortunately, Sabet was re-arrested in 2022 and sentenced to another 10 years in prison. She is currently being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, where Nobel laureate and PEN Norway’s honorary member Narges Mohammadi is also imprisoned. Mohammadi was temporarily released for medical treatment but has since been returned to Evin.
We continue to call for her unconditional release, and for the release of the many other Iranians currently in detention in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.
Mahvash Sabet is an award-winning poet and teacher from Iran. In 2017, she was chosen as the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize for a Writer of Courage by fellow poet Michael Longley.
Having already spent several long years in detention between 2008 and 2017, Mahvash Sabet was once again arrested in Iran in July 2022. She has since been sentenced to a further ten years in prison on spurious charges.
Sabet at the House of Literature during his visit to Norway in 2019. From left: Asieh Amini (PEN Norway’s Committee for Imprisoned Writers), then Secretary General of PEN Norway Hege Newth, Mahvash Sabet, and then Chairman of Norwegian PEN Kjersti L. Stavrum.
