Pressure on Ali Yunesi to Make Television Confessions
Aida Yunesi, sister of Ali Yunesi, a computer engineering student at Sharif University of Technology, has reported pressure being placed on her brother to make televised confessions. Mr. Yunesi was detained on April 12, 2020, along with Amirhossein Moradi, a physics student at Sharif University of Technology, and was transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention center known as Ward 209 in Evin Prison.
According to Hrana news agency, the news organ of the Iranian human rights activists collective, Ali Yunesi, a computer engineering student at Sharif University of Technology, is being pressured by Ministry of Intelligence officers to make a televised confession.
Aida Yunesi, Ali Yunesi’s sister, while publishing a video by Maziar Ebrahimi, who was previously tortured into making a televised confession and now resides outside Iran, wrote about her brother’s situation: “Watch Mr. Ebrahimi’s statements. They told my brother Ali Yunesi the same thing on Wednesday—that by making a televised confession, accept the charges so we can commute your death sentence to life imprisonment. After five months of detention, torture, solitary confinement, and general interrogation, for three weeks they have been insisting on a television interview with threats and pressure.”
Yesterday, following the broadcast of forced confessions by Navid Afkari in the 20:30 news segment of Iranian state television, the issue of torture-induced confessions in Iran was raised once again in cyberspace.
Ali Yunesi and Amirhossein Moradi have been denied access to a lawyer since their detention.
Hrana previously reported in June of this year that Mr. Yunesi had contracted coronavirus and was transferred to multi-person cells in the Ministry of Intelligence detention center known as Ward 209 in Evin Prison.
In mid-June, a group of Iranian graduates, students, and professors inside and outside Iran, in a letter addressed to the head of the “National Elites Foundation” and senior Iranian authorities, called for the release and immediate review of the situation of Ali Yunesi and Amirhossein Moradi. The signatories, while expressing concern that these students have been held in detention for approximately 40 days “for unclear reasons” and “amid the spread of coronavirus,” wrote that the continued lack of information and inability to visit family members and limited phone contact have increased concerns about the health and possibility of unfair treatment of these two students.
Ali Yunesi, a computer engineering student, and Amirhossein Moradi, a physics student at Sharif University of Technology, were detained on April 12, 2020, by Ministry of Intelligence officers and transferred to the ministry’s detention center known as Ward 209 in Evin Prison. It is reported that the detention of these students was carried out by plainclothes officers, without presenting a court order, and accompanied by beatings.
Amirhossein Moradi, the other detained student, remains in detention.
Gholamhossein Esmaili, spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, on May 7, 2020, accused these students of cooperating with the Mujahedin-e Khalq.
Shortly thereafter, Aida Yunesi, Ali Yunesi’s sister, by releasing a video on social media, denied these accusations and cited the imprisonment of her parents in the 1980s as the reason for raising such charges.
Regarding these students, it should be noted that Amirhossein Moradi is the winner of the silver medal in the National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017 and Ali Yunesi is the winner of the silver medal in the National Astronomy Olympiad in 2016 and the gold medal in the Astronomy Olympiad in 2017. Additionally, Ali Yunesi won the gold medal at the twelfth International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad held in China, bringing honor to Iran.
Source: Hrana
