Erfani was imprisoned in Evin Prison after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, from 1981 to 1983. After his release, he immigrated to Sweden in the 1990s and wrote his memoirs of prison in the book “Nekbat” (Calamity).

After emigrating, Erfani traveled to Iran several times to visit his family, but on his last visit in December 2017, he was arrested at the airport because of a complaint by Hassan Heidari, the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad.

He was first sent to Evin Prison and then transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad as the complaint was filed in Mashhad.

It was said that the reason for his arrest was the content of his books and his articles on social media.

At the end of the interrogation, the case investigator issued a bail of 500 million tomans, but after a while, the bail increased to 600 million tomans. Once the bail was provided, the deputy prosecutor informed Erfani's family that, due to security concerns, his opinion on the bail had changed and Erfani should remain in prison until the end of his trial.

Erfani was charged with "insulting Islamic sanctities," "spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion" and "propaganda against the regime" based on the content of his books and articles published in Sweden.

He was tried in Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad in the spring of 2018 and was sentenced to five years in prison for blasphemy and 74 lashes for spreading lies.

Branch 35 of the Court of Appeals of Khorasan Razavi Province reduced his prison sentence to three years, but upheld the flogging sentence.

His flogging sentence was carried out in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad after being confirmed by the Court of Appeals.

Mehdi Fartousi, a former political prisoner in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, who left Iran after serving his sentence in 2019, told IranWire about Erfani’s latest condition: "Farhad Erfani has applied for parole through his lawyer. The appeals court opposed his parole while he had served half of his sentence and was legally entitled to parole. He has also been denied leave since his arrest."

Fartousi continued: "Farhad applied for leave again three months ago [summer 2019] but has received no answer yet. He is not even able to call his wife. Prison officials told him they must be present if he makes a call outside of Iran but he did not agree. Who wants someone else to listen in on his personal conversations with his wife? He has no one to follow up on his case. He is extremely broken down, he has aged a lot and is very frail."

Considering the date of his arrest, Erfani’s sentence ended in January 2021. However, no news of his release has been published.

Erfani’s bibliography includes "From Moist Eyes to Bitter Kisses" and "Binalood Blossoms" which have been published online. He also uses the pen name "Mazdak" in his books.