Judge Mughasseh Increases Bail for Three Members of Iranian Writers’ Association to Three Billion Tomans

Judge Mughasseh has stated that three members of the Iranian Writers’ Association, Reza Khandaan (Mahabadi), Keyvan Baazhen, and Baktash Abtahi, do not need a lawyer. He increased the bail requirement for each of them from 100 million to one billion tomans.

The Iranian Writers’ Association issued a statement protesting the arrest of three of its members, stating that the head of the court, Judge Mughasseh, violated the right of the association’s members to have a lawyer by claiming that the “accused” can defend themselves.

Following this, Judge Mughasseh converted the bail from 100 million tomans for each person to a bail of one billion tomans for each of them. As a result, the association members were unable to meet the bail requirements and were transferred to Evin Prison.

Reza Khandaan (Mahabadi) and Keyvan Baazhen are members of the secretariat board, and Baktash Abtahi is the inspector of the Iranian Writers’ Association, all facing serious charges.

The statement noted that members of the association were first charged with “propaganda against the regime,” and when the case was transferred from the “prosecutor’s office” to the “court” and returned, two more serious charges—”gathering and collusion with the intent to act against national security” and “inciting women of the country to corruption and debauchery”—were added to the original charge. The association members were temporarily released on a bail of 100 million tomans.

The Iranian Writers’ Association’s statement added: “According to legal experts’ opinions, first, the intensification of bail is normally within the authority of the ‘prosecutor’s office,’ and the judge of branch 28 of the ‘court’ should have sent the case to the ‘prosecutor’s office’ with a request to intensify the bail, rather than intensifying the bail himself. Second, the court judge is not permitted to object to the accused’s request to have a lawyer for self-defense. These two instances constitute a clear violation of the defendant’s basic rights and show that the judge has openly disregarded the principle of impartiality, which is sufficient in itself to prove that the aforementioned branch is incompetent to hear the case in question.”

In its statement, the Iranian Writers’ Association, while protesting the arrest of Baktash Abtahi, Keyvan Baazhen, and Reza Khandaan (Mahabadi)—which even contradicts the legal procedures and judicial standards of the Islamic Republic—demands the immediate and unconditional release of the detained members of the association.

The statement said: “Defending freedom of expression without any limitation or exception is the inherent right of all citizens, including members of the Iranian Writers’ Association. Therefore, no one can be taken to court and tried because of exercising this right, let alone having their basic rights trampled in courts of the kind of ‘Divan-e Balkh.'”

Source: DW