Journalist Masoud Kazemi Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Prison

Masoud Kazemi, journalist and editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “Sedaye Farsi,” who is currently in detention, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison.

Ali Mojtahedzadeh, the defense attorney for the journalist, said on Sunday, June 2, in an interview with IRNA news agency that Judge Moghisseh, head of branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, sentenced Mr. Kazemi to two years for publishing false information, two years for insulting the Supreme Leader, and six months for insulting other officials.

The court also sentenced the journalist to two years of deprivation from press activities.

His attorney stated that if this conviction becomes final, the harsher punishment of two years imprisonment will be executed.

Mr. Kazemi was also accused by the judge of assembly and collusion, charges from which he was acquitted.

Masoud Kazemi, who has previously worked with newspapers Shargh and Qanun, was arrested in his Tehran residence by security forces in November of last year and was again arrested on Wednesday, May 22, following his visit to branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court to address his case due to his inability to pay a bail of one billion tomans, and was transferred to Evin Prison.

Source: Voice of America