On 22 September, Iranian Kurdish Human Rights Defender, Jina Modares Gorji was released from prison. She had been arbitrarily detained and sentenced to an unjustifiably severe sentence in May 2024. Gorji’s release follows a joint submission to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) by UNPO and Kurdistan Human Rights Association Geneva (KMMK-G) in September 2024. This submission led to the WGAD’s subsequent opinion in July 2025, which declared her arrest and detention arbitrary.
Jina Modares Gorji is a journalist and human rights defender from the Sanandaj region of Iranian Kurdistan. An advocate for the rights of Kurdish women and girls, as well as the broader Kurdish community’s sociocultural rights, Gorji became a committed documenter of discrimination, injustice, and human rights abuses in the wake of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. Through her work as a writer and translator, she actively exposed acts of violence and the Iranian state’s mistreatment of the Kurdish community. Her vocal support for the movement and her documentation of state abuses made her a target for repression, and as a result of her advocacy, she has faced punishment, work deprivation, and educational setbacks multiple times.
Gorji was targeted for her views and was arrested on two separate occasions as a direct consequence of speaking out. In the first instance in 2022, shortly after the protests began, she was accused of “spreading misinformation,” “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security,” and “propaganda activities against the State.” This arrest was in connection with Gorji’s participation in the Women, Life, Freedom movement which began amongst the Kurdish community and soon spread throughout the country against the Iranian regime’s suppression of women’s rights. This movement started as a result of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, who died while in custody of the Iranian ‘morality police’ after being arrested for improper dress in September 2022. Since the start of this movement, Iranian security forces’ response to the protests has been brutal, and the country has seen a further increase in the suppression of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Gorji’s second arrest in April 2023 was made without any stated reasons. It was only during her sentencing in May 2024 that Gorji was informed of the charges against her: “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security,” “collaborating with a hostile Government,” and carrying out “propaganda activities against the State.” She was sentenced to the women’s ward of the Juvenile Detention Centre in Sanandaj, where she spent 16 months in detention.
In response to Gorji’s arrest and sentencing, UNPO and KMMK-G jointly submitted a report to the WGAD in September 2024, drawing attention to Gorji’s arbitrary arrest and detention. This submission highlighted how Gorji’s arrest was a direct result of her human and cultural rights work and her being targeted as part of a larger trend of intimidation and suppression of the Kurdish community in Iran. On 2 July 2025, the WGAD published its opinion declaring Gorji’s second arrest and detention as arbitrary. The WGAD concluded that Gorji’s arrest met four out of the five criteria for arbitrary arrest and detention. This included the following findings:
- The deprivation of liberty of Jina Gorji lacked legal basis and was therefore arbitrary;
- The detention of Jina Gorji was a result of her legitimate exercise of human rights, particularly her freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and rights as an ethnic and linguistic minority;
- Jina Gorji’s right of a fair trial and due process rights were breached and her deprivation of liberty was therefore arbitrary; and
- Jina Gorji was arbitrarily deprived of her liberty on discriminatory grounds, on the basis of her political or other opinion, ethnicity and language, status as a human rights defender as well as her gender.
Despite the Iranian government’s lack of response to the WGAD’s request for information regarding her arrest, Jina Modares Gorji was released on 22 September 2025, subsequent to the WGAD’s final opinion.
In a global moment of disrespect for the rule of law and growing international pressures, Jina Gorji’s release reminds us that sustained advocacy and international solidarity can bring about change. Her courage in documenting human rights abuses, even in the face of repeated persecution, exemplifies the resilience of those fighting for the respect and recognition of their fundamental rights. As Gorji returns to her community, we celebrate not only her freedom but also the unwavering spirit of human rights defenders everywhere who continue to speak out, even in the face of adversity. The UNPO and KMMK-G also recalls the earlier releases of Kurdish Activist, Zara Mohammadi, who was arbitrarily detained by Iranian authorities as a result of her efforts to promote the Kurdish language and culture in Iran; and Soma Pourmohammadi, who was arrested for promoting the rights of the Kurdish community with a special focus on the right to freely teach the Kurdish language.
Gorji’s release, as well as the previous release of Zara Mohammadi and Soma Pourmohammadi offer hope that peaceful efforts to hold states accountable can succeed and contribute to the strengthening of the broader movement for human rights. UNPO remains committed to supporting all those who, like her, refuse to be silenced in their pursuit of justice and dignity for their communities.
