Former Shiraz City Council Member Who Was Detained for Supporting Two Bahá’ís Sentenced to Prison and Exile

Mehdi Hajati, a civil activist and former member of Shiraz City Council who was detained for a period in September 2018 after tweeting in support of two Bahá’í citizens, has been sentenced to prison and exile by the Revolutionary Court.

On Wednesday, September 19, this civil activist announced on his Instagram page that he had been sentenced by Branch 1 of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mahmoud Sadati, to one year in prison and two years of exile to Birjand on charges of “propaganda activity against the system.”

According to Mehdi Hajati, the second hearing of his case in the former Shiraz City Council member’s file, on charges of “spreading false information,” will be held on Saturday, September 22.

Previously, Voice of America reported that Mr. Hajati had written on his Twitter account in September 2018 about his efforts to free two detained Bahá’í citizens: “I have knocked on every door in the past ten days to secure the release of two detained Bahá’í friends and have not succeeded. Our generation must not stop in its efforts to reform judicial procedures and other matters that threaten social justice, as long as it stands against foreign enemies.”

After supporting the two Bahá’í citizens, Mehdi Hajati was detained for a period, and after his release, he was not allowed to attend the council for some time. Despite his return to the council, in mid-June 2019 he was again arrested at his residence by security forces, and was finally released on bail from Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz on Thursday, January 23.

It should be noted that in August 2019, the governor of Shiraz announced the appointment of a replacement for Mehdi Hajati on the city council. He stated that the first alternate member of the council was asked to replace him but declined, and a third person named “Mohammad Taghi Tazarvi” was subsequently invited to be introduced and formally replace Hajati in the council’s next session.

The United States has repeatedly condemned violent confrontations, widespread suppression of protesters and civil activists, as well as repeated and continuous violations of Iranian citizens’ rights by the ruling regime in the country.