The United Nations and other international human rights groups have relied heavily his work, particularly on juveniles sentenced to death, for their own reports.

[1] Emadeddin Baghi has been arrested several times by the government of Iran on charges described by international human rights organizations as politically motivated.

[2] In 2003, Judge Babayee of Branch 6 of the Revolutionary Court gave Baghi a one-year suspended term for "endangering national security" and "printing lies" in his book, The Tragedy of Democracy in Iran.

[2] Baghi received another one-year prison sentence for "acting against national security" on 15 October 2007, when he was summoned by Tehran's revolutionary court on the charges of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic" and "divulging state secret information".

The Islamic Republic News Agency quoted an official who stated, "Baghi was doing his activities against national security under the cover of defending prisoners' rights".

[11] Baghi's imprisonment was condemned by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

[13] Baghi was among the numerous journalists and reformists detained by the government of Iran on 28 December 2009 in the wake of clashes between demonstrators and police at the Ashura protests.

On 22 September, opposition websites reported that Baghi had been sentenced to an additional six years' imprisonment for "propaganda against the state" and other charges for having broadcast an interview with dissident cleric Hossein Ali Montazeri on BBC Persian.

In the months prior to his release, he and other prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest the deaths of dissidents Haleh Sahabi and Hoda Saber[18] On 27.01.2021, Emadeddin Baghi called a Conchita Wurst's photo "disgusting" on Twitter.