New Charge Against Imprisoned Lawyer in Iran: Inciting Public Unrest by Writing Letter to Iran’s Leader

An imprisoned lawyer in Arak has once again been accused of “inciting public unrest” for writing a letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic.

Iran Human Rights Campaign reported that Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer imprisoned in Arak, was informed of the charge of “inciting public unrest” on December 19 upon his transfer to the Shahreza Judiciary Branch Prosecutor’s Office, this time for writing a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s leader.

This charge comes at a time when Mr. Najafi is serving a three-year prison sentence in Arak prison.

In September of this year, Najafi published a letter addressed to Ayatollah Khamenei on his Facebook page, criticizing the Islamic Republic’s policies, and titled it: “Mr. Khamenei, our generation is at your service.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign report, this imprisoned lawyer in Iran was transferred to Arak prison in November of this year, two months after writing this letter, without being given a response to his appeal for retrial.

Mohammad Najafi’s lawyer, Payam Derfarshan, commented on the new charge against him, saying that a new file with repeated charges is opened against Mr. Najafi every day. He had previously been sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court on charges of insulting the leader. Now in another branch, for writing another letter to the leader, he is being charged with inciting public unrest. This means nothing but harassment and persecution.

This imprisoned lawyer has been charged for the fourth time with the repeated title of “inciting public unrest,” while he had previously been sentenced to four years in prison. He was also sentenced to 10 years in prison in his third case.

He was arrested last year following reports about Vahid Heidari, one of the December protesters who died in detention in Arak.

Source: Voice of America