MEK Iran: Mullahs Accused Political Prisoners with False Charges

 

Six political detainees at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary appeared in court on January 8 to face new accusations, just months after they were beaten by violent criminals hired by prison officials. Political prisoners Akbar Bagheri, Pouya Ghobadi, Shapour Ehsani Rad, Esmail Gerami, Alireza Farshi, and one other prisoner were arrested and charged with ‘rioting in jail’ at Hassanabad Fashafoyeh Criminal Court Branch 101. The fraudulent charges were brought against them when prison officials complained that the inmates were rioting, participating in prison protests, and celebrating in the facility.

The prisoners after being  injured, were transferred to the jail infirmary

Among the charges was the event in which the six men were beaten. On October 8, 2021, prison officials hired several violent criminals to attack the men, who were severely beaten and stabbed with knives. The inmates have requested multiple times to be transferred to different sections owing to the insecure conditions, but their requests have gone unmet. After being pummelled and injured, [the men] were transferred to the jail infirmary. Alireza Farshi, an Azerbaijani Turkic human rights campaigner, is now serving a two-year sentence for peaceful acts, including advocating for the freedom to speak one’s mother tongue.

During his six-year term, labor activist Shapour Ehsani-Rad has been denied medical treatment for his back difficulties, while Esmail Gerami, 67, was sentenced to 74 lashes and a 2 million toman fine on top of his five-year sentence. Pouya Ghobadi, 27, was charged with waging war against God and sentenced to five years in prison; Akbar Bagheri was sentenced to nine years in prison for being a member of Iranian opposition groups, and Akbar Faraji is now serving six years in prison for his internet activism.

For using social media Leila sentenced to five years in prison

In other events, student activist Leila Hosseinzadeh has been summoned to Evin Court to begin serving her prison sentence. Hosseinzadeh, an anthropology student at Tehran University, was banned from using social media for two years and sentenced to five years in prison. To commemorate the birthday of Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam, an imprisoned student Dervish, Leila Hosseinzadeh organized a small student assembly outside Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology. For holding this party and singing in it, she was charged with “assembly and cooperation for acting against national security.”Security forces apprehended her on December 7 while she was visiting the city of Shiraz in Fars province. Hosseinzadeh and nine of her friends were held at gunpoint while their phones and identification documents were seized.

Her friends were released after a few hours in a detention center run by the intelligence department, where she was assaulted and brutalized by authorities before being moved to Adilabad Prison on December 23. Hosseinzadeh was previously arrested during the massive protests in January 2018 and was sentenced to six years in prison for the same allegations. Her sentence was commuted to 3 years and 6 months in prison and a two-year travel ban in June of the following year, however, she only served 2 years and 6 months of her term in Evin Prison. She was granted medical leave from the prison on March 11, 2021, but was later released because she was physically unable to withstand incarceration.

 

 

 

 

 

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