Hamed Sahabi is the owner of Iran Farda publication and the son of the late Ezzatollah Sahabi, a politician and journalist.

On December 7, 2020, shortly after the sentence against Keyvan Samimi, the editor-in-chief of Iran Farda, was also enforced, Hamed Sahabi announced that his sentence, which carried a two-year ban on media and press activity, would also be enforced.

Sahabi, who is the owner and managing director of the Iran Farda monthly publication, published a letter in which he detailed the role of the Kayhan newspaper, a conservative newspaper with close ties to the Iranian government, in his conviction and sentencing: “From the very beginning of the new publication of Iran Farda, the Kayhan newspaper attacked the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in its well-known ‘Special News’ column, questioning why they had issued Iran Farda with a publishing license. They insinuated that Iran Farda was an organization that was affiliated with factions opposed to the Islamic Revolution, that it was publishing propaganda against the state and that it was publishing falsehoods. It created undue sensitivity among judicial officers which led to them reviewing the contents of each Iran Farda issue, line-by-line and with a pessimistic outlook to find any evidence to support the Kayhan newspapers’s false claim.”

The first issue of the new Iran Farda publication was published in June 2014, on the third anniversary of the death of Ezzatollah Sahabi, the founder of the monthly publication.

In his letter, Hamed Sahabi stated that the Kayhan newspaper's actions had led to a 19-page long legal case being opened against them in the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office in 2015: “Initially, the prosecutor of the relevant branch issued an order to halt prosecution in the case due to insufficient evidence. However, the Prosecutor General opposed the prosecutor’s order [to halt proceedings] and the complaint was subsequently filed with the higher courts. Eventually, the press courts issued its verdict which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Iran and I, as the managing director of Iran Farda, was sentenced to two years of ban on press and media activities.”

According to what Sahabi stated in his letter, this sentence was enforced in July 2020 following a notification from the Press Supervisory Board.

In his letter, which was published after Keyvan Samimi, the managing director of Iran Farda, was transferred to prison, Sahabi wrote that now, as Samimi had been sent to prison and as Sahabi would be unable to act as the managing director due to his sentence and media ban, the Iran Farda publication would no longer be published until further notice.

Keyvan Samimi was sent to Evin Prison in December 2020 to serve a three-year prison sentence. The sentence was issued due to Samimi’s attendance at the Labor Day Rally in May 2019.

On December 7, 2020, Reporters Without Borders posted a tweet in which they referred to the enforcement of Keyvan Samimi and Hamed Sahabi’s sentences. In the tweet, they said: “Reporters Without Borders condemns the closure of the Iran Farda publication through threats from judicial and security officials and the arrest of its editor-in-chief, Keyvan Samimi. Hamed Sahabi, the managing director of this monthly publication, has also been sentenced to a two year ban on media activity. Keyvan Samimi was today transferred to Evin Prison to begin serving his three-year prison sentence.”

According to the verdict in his case, Hamed Sahabi will not be allowed to carry out any form of media or press activity until July 2022.