Abbas Lesani’s Prison Sentence Doubled in Appeals Court
The prison sentence of Abbas Lesani, an Azerbaijani (Turkic) activist, which was previously issued by the Ardabil Revolutionary Court, has been doubled in the appeals court.
An informed source told Voice of America that the 8-year prison sentence of Abbas Lesani, an imprisoned civil activist whose sentence was issued by the first branch of the Ardabil Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Khodadadi, has been increased to 15 years by Nasser Atbati, the head of the first branch of the Ardabil Appeals Court.
This informed source told Voice of America that Mr. Lesani has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and two years of exile to Yazd on the charge of “forming a group with the intention of undermining the country’s security,” and to five years in prison on the charges of “acts against national security” and “inciting and encouraging Turkic ethnic groups in West Azerbaijan Province through speeches and interviews with media outlets opposed to the system.”
These sentences were issued while, based on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding the consolidation of sentences, only 10 years of this sentence on the charge of “forming a group with the intention of undermining the country’s security” as the most severe punishment would be enforceable.
The appeals court hearing for this civil activist was held on September 25 with the presence of the court’s advisors, Bilal Mozaffari and Merhamet Shahbazzadeh, and the verdict was notified to Abbas Lesani and his lawyer on Tuesday, October 9.
This civil activist was previously arrested on January 6, 2019 to serve a ten-month prison sentence issued by the second branch of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court on the charge of “propaganda activity against the system in favor of anti-system groups,” and was transferred to Tabriz Prison. However, following his written objection to the legal proceedings and the acceptance of his objection in the second branch of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court, he was temporarily released on Monday, January 8 by posting a bond of 100 million tomans and was arrested again on January 16, 2019 after a court hearing.
Mr. Lesani’s appeals court hearing in this case was held on April 14 in branch 26 of the East Azerbaijan Appeals Court, and the ten-month prison sentence issued by Judge Michael Khobiarpur was upheld as is.
According to an Amnesty International report in 2018, more than seven thousand people, including protest participants, students, journalists, women’s rights activists, environmental activists, labor activists, and ethnic and religious minority rights activists in Iran were arrested and hundreds were sentenced to prison.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned violent crackdowns and widespread suppression of protesters in various instances, as well as repeated and continuous violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in the country.
Source: Voice of America
