Abbas Lesani transferred to solitary confinement following hunger strike

Abbas Lisani, who had been on a hunger strike in prison to protest the lack of access to his case summary, was transferred to solitary confinement.

According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, imprisoned Turkish activist Abbas Lesani was transferred to a solitary cell by prison authorities in Ardabil Central Prison on Tuesday, June 27, one day after he began his hunger strike to protest the lack of access to his case summary.

A source said: Prison officials want to cut off Mr. Lesani's communication with the outside world so that news about the hunger strike is not reported in the media, which is why they have transferred him to solitary confinement.

Abbas Lesani was arrested on Saturday, January 5, 2018, to serve a ten-month prison sentence and transferred to Tabriz Prison. However, after submitting a written objection to the trial process and his objection was accepted by Branch 2 of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court, he was temporarily released on Monday, January 7, 2018, after posting a bail of 100 million Tomans.

Mr. Lesani was re-arrested on January 15, 2018, after a court hearing.

The campaign report states that Mr. Lesani, on Saturday, June 24, had announced to his relatives in a phone call that "if the prison authorities do not give him a summary of his case file, which was prepared by his lawyer to prepare him for his defense in the upcoming court and delivered to the office of Ardabil Central Prison, he will go on a hunger strike starting Monday, June 25, 2019."

According to available information, Abbas Lisani was previously sentenced to ten months in prison by the second branch of the Tabriz Revolutionary Court on charges of "propaganda activity against the regime in favor of groups opposed to the regime." This sentence was confirmed in Branch 26 of the East Azerbaijan Province Court of Appeals, presided over by Judge Mikael Khobiarpour.

According to a report by Amnesty International, in 2018, more than seven thousand people, including participants in demonstrations, students, journalists, women's rights activists, environmental activists, labor activists, and ethnic and religious minority rights activists, were arrested in Iran, and hundreds were sentenced to prison.