Details of Increased Sentence and Latest Condition of Mohammad Nourizad, Political Activist Imprisoned in Iran
Mohammad Nourizad’s wife, a political prisoner in Iran, criticized the Islamic Republic’s courts by announcing an increase in this political prisoner’s sentence, saying that with the deterioration of his physical condition in prison, he “suffers from repeated fainting spells.”
Fatemeh Maleki, Mohammad Nourizad’s wife, told Voice of America on Thursday, September 27, that a new verdict of 3 years imprisonment issued by the Golestan Province Court of Appeals on charges of insulting Khamenei and propaganda against the system was delivered to the political prisoner at Evin Prison yesterday.
Ms. Maleki says this verdict was issued for Mr. Nourizad while he had previously been sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 1 of the Gorgan Revolutionary Court. Now the appeals court has increased that sentence to three years, one year of which is suspended.
The wife of this political prisoner described the issuance of such verdicts as psychological warfare against Mr. Nourizad and said: “Every so often they bring up new accusations and verdicts, apparently intending to harass Mr. Nourizad with them, and the issuance of these verdicts has no logical justification.”
Ms. Maleki said: “They hold trials and issue verdicts, baseless and unfounded verdicts, unjust verdicts in informal courts, one-sided courts with pre-approved titles, accusations and sentences.”
In late Mordad of this year, Mohammad Nourizad’s lawyer also announced a new verdict against his client in another case. He wrote on his Twitter page that Mr. Nourizad was sentenced to 74 lashes, 8 months imprisonment, and one year exile to Torbat-e Jam for appearing in front of a courthouse building, and to 74 lashes for spreading false information.
Mr. Nourizad’s wife also expressed concern about this political prisoner’s physical condition and told Voice of America: “Mr. Nourizad suffers from repeated fainting spells as a result of hunger and medication strikes he had in solitary confinement in Mashhad. Although they have sent him to a hospital outside the prison three times and usually transfer him to Evin Prison’s medical clinic daily, this problem persists. This political prisoner’s physical condition has not improved, and it is unclear what the cause of his fainting is.”
Ms. Maleki said: “Currently, Mr. Nourizad’s sinuses have been infected for at least 10 days. He has persistent coughs and we hope he has not contracted coronavirus.”
According to her, the pills Mr. Nourizad takes have left him incapacitated, to the point where he cannot maintain his balance and has been walking with a cane for the past two weeks.
Ms. Maleki also said: “We have requested furlough, but unfortunately they act every day as if they don’t want to implement this decision. Mr. Nourizad has committed no crime to be kept in custody under these difficult conditions. If anything happens to Mr. Nourizad or any incident occurs, they are responsible.”
On the other hand, Mohammad Nourizad told his wife in a phone call that he has been threatened by one of the security forces, asking him why he is making statements from prison. This is while Ms. Maleki says: “Mr. Nourizad does not issue statements in his calls and only provides a report of his daily situation and sometimes refers to matters that are not the first time people are hearing about them and have no whistleblowing aspect.”
Fatemeh Maleki said that security forces probably threatened Mr. Nourizad on this basis so that they could cut off his phone calls.
The mother of this political prisoner also, in an audio file of which a copy was sent to Voice of America, addresses a message to the leader of the Islamic Republic, saying: “Why should my son be in prison? Do you want to give me his corpse? I want his freedom. What result do you want to achieve? Even if you throw Mohammad Nourizad in a glass, he will tell the truth. Prison is where it belongs.”
Mr. Nourizad was arrested on July 11 after referring to the first branch of the prosecutor’s office of District 33 of Evin, following signing a letter demanding Khamenei’s resignation. He was also sentenced to 15 years in prison in spring of this year for signing this letter.
The arrest of signatories of that letter comes at a time when Ali Khamenei had stated in his speeches that people are free to criticize him. However, not only is no criticism of the leader of the Islamic Republic visible in the media, but even the slightest criticism raised by activists comes with accusations of insulting the leadership.
Previously, the Islamic Republic’s security authorities accused the signatories of these letters of attempting to “design a new sedition.” Many of the signatories of these two letters have been arrested.
International human rights organizations and the United States have accused the Islamic Republic of violating freedom of speech and suppressing civil activists and have called for the release of journalists who have been imprisoned solely for performing their duties and professions.
The U.S. State Department also says that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, workers’ representatives, and other groups in the past two years.
Source: Voice of America
