Several Political Activists and Signatories of Khamenei Resignation Letter Detained

A group of political activists who had gathered in front of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court in protest of a 13-year prison sentence for “Kamal Jaafari Yazdi” and as signatories of a letter demanding Khamenei’s resignation were arrested by police and security forces.

Kamal Jaafari Yazdi, who witnessed the arrest of more than ten of these protesters while present at the Revolutionary Court on Saturday, told Radio Farda: Fatema Sepehri, Poran Nazemi, Hashem Khahestan, and Mohammad Nourizad are among those detained.

Mr. Jaafari Yazdi was tried approximately five months ago on charges including “attempting to overthrow the government,” “insulting the leader,” and “propaganda against the system,” and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Reza Mehrgan, another signatory of the resignation letter demanding Ayatollah Khamenei step down, named Hooriyeh Farajzadeh, Javad Laal Mohammadi, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, and Abdolrasool Mortazavi as other detained individuals in his Twitter account.

Some of these individuals are among the signatories of the 14-person statement demanding Khamenei’s resignation, some of whom had previously been threatened with death.

The U.S. State Department says the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, and representatives of workers and other professions over the past two years.

In Iran, any criticism of the leader of the Islamic Republic is severely punished.

The treatment of those who signed the resignation letter demanding Khamenei comes weeks after Reza Mehrgan, one of the signatories, posted a video on social media announcing that he was attacked and beaten with a stun gun by unidentified individuals.

Previously, Javad Laal Mohammadi, a member of the Mashhad Teachers’ Professional Organization and a signatory of the letter, stated that he had received threatening messages several times, and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, another signatory, posted a video saying that someone with a knife rang his home’s doorbell and after contacting 110, no officer came to investigate.

Also, Mohammad Nourizad, another signatory of the letter, was arrested on July 10 after referring to the first branch of the Evin Prison district prosecutor’s office “to defend against charges in his file” but was released on bail.

Source: Voice of America