Final Conviction of Four Signatories of Letter Demanding Khamenei’s Resignation to Over 40 Years in Prison
Fatema Sephari, Mohammadhossein Sephari, Mohammad Nourizad, and Hashem Khavasgar, four signatories of a letter demanding the resignation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, have been sentenced to a combined total of 40 years and 4 months in prison by the Appellate Court of Razavi Khorasan Province.
According to the Iran Human Rights News Website, Branch 35 of the Appellate Court of Razavi Khorasan Province on Sunday, April 10, issued a judgment sentencing these four activists to a combined total of 40 years and 4 months in prison on charges of “membership in groups opposed to the system with the intent to undermine national security,” “propaganda activities against the system,” and “establishing and managing a Telegram channel with the intent to undermine national security.”
Based on available information, this sentence was orally announced on Sunday when the lawyer of these political activists referred to the judiciary of Razavi Khorasan Province.
According to this report and based on the issued judgment, Hashem Khavasgar was sentenced to 16 years in prison, Mohammad Nourizad to 15 years in prison, Mohammadhossein Sephari to 6 years in prison, and Fatema Sephari to 3 years and 4 months in prison.
On the other hand, Hashem Khavasgar and Mohammad Nourizad were each sentenced to an additional 2-year ban on leaving the country and to 2 years of banishment in Nikshahr and Izeh county, respectively.
An informed source told the Iran Human Rights Website that another case has been filed against these four political activists on charges of “disrupting public order and depriving public peace” and “insulting the leadership through publishing content on virtual space” and has been referred to Criminal Court 2 in Mashhad, with the hearing date announced for Friday, April 22.
Hashem Khavasgar, Mohammad Nourizad, Zarathushtra Ahmadiragheb, Reza Mehrgan, Mohammad Reza Beyat, Kamal Jafari Yazdi, Mohammadhossein Sephari, Gohar Eshghi (mother of Sattar Beheshti), Hooriya Farajzadeh (sister of Shahram Farajzadeh, one of the 2009 protest killings), Mohammad Karim Beghi, Javad Lael Mohammadi, Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Mahdavi Far, and Abbas Vahediyan Shahroudi were the signatories of the letter demanding Khamenei’s resignation.
In mid-August 2019, 14 women activists, in view of inequalities and problems facing women in Iran, published a letter calling for moving beyond the Islamic Republic and drafting a new constitution.
Sheila Entesari, Nasrin Baheshti, Farshte Tasveebi, Parva (Sekine) Pachehdeh, Giti Poorfazel, Ezzat Javadi Hessaar, Zahra Jamali, Sheila Jahanbeen, Fatema Sephari, Maryam Soleimani, Susan Taherkhani, Frangis Mazloom, Narges Mansouri, and Kimia Norouzi Saber were the signatories of this letter.
Previously, security officials of the Islamic Republic had accused the signatories of these letters of attempting to “design a new sedition.” Many 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 expression and suppressing civil activists, calling for the release of journalists who have been imprisoned solely for performing their duties and profession.
The U.S. State Department also says that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, workers’ representatives, and members of other professions in the past two years.
Source: Voice of America
