Indictment of Mostafa Kavakebian for false allegations about Perez-Shakdam (2025)

In July 2025, Tehran's prosecutor charged former reformist MP Mostafa Kavakebian after he appeared on Iranian state television and claimed that Catherine Perez-Shakdam had maintained sexual relationships with 120 senior Iranian officials. Iran's state broadcaster publicly dismissed his statements as "obscene and false," and Iran's security and judicial bodies confirmed they held no documents indicating immoral behavior or illegal activity by Perez-Shakdam during her time in Iran. The prosecutor's office charged Kavakebian with making unsupported public claims and disturbing public opinion. He was ultimately convicted, receiving a 14-month prison sentence suspended for four years and a two-year ban on all media activity. The indictment was a notable episode in which the Iranian regime's own judiciary repudiated one of the most sensationalized elements of the domestic propaganda narrative around the Perez-Shakdam case.