A law professor at Beheshti University was sentenced to 7 years in prison; the charge was: teaching a course in the Czech Republic.

Reza Eslami, a law professor at Shahid Beheshti University and a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court for what has been called “collaborating with a hostile state.”

Some of Mr. Eslami’s relatives announced the verdict against him in messages on social media on Monday, February 10. They say that the lower court judge considered his cooperation with a Czech NGO in holding rule of law training courses funded by an American NGO to be an example of “collaboration with a hostile state.”

Judge Abolghasem Salavati, who is known for issuing harsh sentences against political activists and human rights defenders and is sanctioned by the United States for human rights violations, issued the ruling in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. The ruling was delivered to Mr. Eslami in prison last week.

Reza Eslami holds a doctorate in law from McGill University in Canada and is a professor of human rights and environmental law at Shahid Beheshti University. According to some human rights activists, security agents had prevented Dr. Eslami's family from being informed about his arrest by promising his release.

Voice of America reported last May that, according to news published by human rights media, the law professor at Shahid Beheshti University was arrested on Sunday, May 13, in a raid by intelligence officials at his workplace. After searching Mr. Eslami’s home, the officers confiscated some of his personal belongings, including a cell phone, several books, a laptop, and some of his academic pamphlets, and took him to an unknown location. The issuance of this ruling was met with the arrest of some of Mr. Eslami’s students and colleagues in cyberspace.

Source: Voice of America