Mahvash Sabet

Mahvash Shahriari Sabet (; born February 4, 1953 in Ardestan, Isfahan) better known as Mahvash Sabet is an Iranian poet and former educator. She was one of the Bahá'i Seven, a group of seven Bahá'i community leaders arrested by the Iranian government.

In 2010, she was sentenced to twenty years in prison, and to another ten years in 2023. Human rights organizations have reported that she has serious health conditions and underwent open heart surgery, though she was expected to continue serving a ten year prison sentence. Before her arrest, she worked as a teacher and school principal but was dismissed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution because of her Bahá’í faith.

Education and Career Sabet was born in Ardestan, Iran. When she was in the fifth grade, her family moved to Tehran. After the Iranian Revolution, she was barred from working in public education due to her faith.

In 2006, Sabet was asked to become a leader of Iran's Bahá'í community. She and six other leaders "tended to the spiritual and social needs of the Iranian Baha’i community given the absence of formally elected Baha’i leadership".

Arrests and imprisonments Sabet was first arrested in 2005 on the day of her daughter's wedding, but was released after questioning. In February 2009, she was charged with spying for Israel, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, insulting sacred sites, and establishment of an illegal administration. In June 2010, she and the rest of the Baháʼí Seven were tried, convicted, and given sentences of 20 years in prison. In 2012, it was reported that Sabet broke her hip while imprisoned and was not allowed to take medical leave from prison. In 2016, the Baháʼí 7 were informed that their sentences had been reduced to ten years, in light of a 2013 penal code reform.

In 2015, during her first imprisonment, and again in 2023 her second incarceration, members of the European Parliament expressed concern over Mahvah Sabet’s imprisonment, such as Cornelia Ernst, then Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegations for Relations with Iran.

In December 2024, Sabet was sent to a hospital for urgent medical treatment after her health deteriorated significantly. She was later temporarily released after undergoing open-heart surgery, in order to recover at home. According to her family, among many other health complications, Sabet is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and heart issues. PEN International remains gravely concerned about the sharp deterioration in Sabet’s health and calls for her not to be returned to prison.

Family Shahriyari married her husband, Siyvash Sabet, on May 21, 1973. The couple has a son and a daughter. Sabet's daughter moved to Australia in 2017, and as of 2022 she lives in Sydney with her daughter.