Dena Karari

Dena Karari is an Iranian-American technology professional, an employee of the cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, and the founder of the Children of Mehr Foundation. She became publicly known after Iranian authorities prevented her from leaving Iran from December 2024 until July 2026 and investigated her over allegations of espionage and collaboration with a hostile state. Karari was permitted to leave Iran on July 15, 2026, and returned to the United States on July 18, 2026. In August 2026, Karari's legal team announced that Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan had convicted her in absentia of conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security under Article 610 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code and sentenced her to five years in prison.

Background

Karari was born in Mamasani County, Fars province, Iran. She is a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and an employee of Palo Alto Networks, an American cybersecurity company.

Karari founded and operated the Children of Mehr Foundation, a United States-based nonprofit organization that assisted disadvantaged children in Iran. The foundation used private donations and operated under authorization from the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

In April 2026, Karari's exit ban formally expired and, since her passports had been returned, she attempted to leave Iran but was turned back by authorities and remained unable to depart.

The New York Times subsequently identified the woman as Dena Karari. IranWire noted that Karari had not been formally jailed and that Mizan's statement did not directly address her departure from Iran or the lifting of her travel restrictions.

Karari arrived at San Francisco International Airport on July 18, 2026.

After Karari's release, her international human rights lawyer, Jared Genser, called on Iranian authorities to end proceedings against people in Iran who had worked locally with the Children of Mehr Foundation. He also called for the release of other Americans and Iranian political prisoners held in Iran.

Conviction in absentia

On August 19, 2026, Karari's legal team announced that Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan had convicted her in absentia under Article 610 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code on a charge of conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security and sentenced her to five years in prison. The judgment was dated August 16, 2026.

Radio Farda reported that the court was presided over by Judge Mehdi Sarhadi Rad and that two other volunteers associated with a non-governmental organization involved in the case were each sentenced to five years in prison on similar charges.

Karari rejected the conviction and denied that her humanitarian work helping disadvantaged children obtain access to education constituted a threat to national security. Her international lawyer, Jared Genser, called the judgment baseless and said that her legal team would pursue available legal avenues to overturn it.