Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi Each Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison

Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, two elite students of Sharif University of Technology, have each been sentenced to 16 years in prison. They have been imprisoned on charges such as “corruption on earth” and “cooperation with the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization”.

Hrana News Agency, the news outlet of a group of human rights activists in Iran, reported on Monday, the 5th of Ordibehesht (April 25), the ruling of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court for Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, elite students of Sharif University of Technology. Each of them has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges including “corruption on earth,” “assembly and conspiracy against the system,” and “propaganda against the system.”

Ali Younesi is a computer engineering student and Amirhossein Moradi is a physics student at Sharif University of Technology. They were arrested in Farvardin 99 (March-April 2020) by Ministry of Intelligence agents and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. It is reported that the arrest of these students was carried out by plainclothes officers without presenting a court warrant, and the officers beat them during their detention.

Gholamhossein Ismaili, spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, accused these students of cooperating with the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization in Ordibehesht of that year. The families of the two have rejected the charges and stated that forced confessions were extracted from them.

Aida Younesi, shortly after her brother’s arrest, released a video on social media stating that the accusation of cooperation with the Mujahedin was made against her brother because his parents were prisoners from the 1980s. Aida Younesi reported in Shahrivar 99 (August-September 2020) about pressure on her brother to make televised confessions.

Two Years of “Temporary Detention”

Reza, Ali Younesi’s brother, told Deutsche Welle Persian in late Bahman of last year that he and Hossein Moradi have been spending 22 months in “temporary detention” and are deprived of many basic rights.

Prior to that, Mostafa Neili, Ali Younesi’s lawyer, had spoken about his client’s detention conditions in Evin Prison, saying that he “is held in a 2 by 4 meter cell in Ward 209 with a drug smuggler and a person accused of financial corruption. He is allowed outdoor time only 3 days a week, and only for 20 minutes, and the use of blindfolds is forcibly imposed on him contrary to law.”

Amirhossein Moradi won the silver medal of the National Astronomy Olympiad in 96 and Ali Younesi won the silver medal of the National Astronomy Olympiad in 95 and the gold medal of the Astronomy Olympiad in 96. Additionally, Ali Younesi won the gold medal in the 12th International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad, which was held in China.

Tasnim News Agency identified these two elite students as being linked to the “Monafeqin group” and wrote that “these individuals, in addition to this, in several other instances in different parts of Tehran had carried out terrorist operations under the guidance of the Monafeqin.”

Domestic and International Efforts for the Release of Younesi and Moradi

Since the detention of these two, many inside and outside Iran, including a group of Swedish parliamentarians and Gabi Roland, a member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament in Germany, have called for their release.

In Ordibehesht of last year, 170 professors and faculty members of Sharif University of Technology sent a letter to Iranian government officials asking them to release Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

A number of Nobel Prize winners and academic figures also sent a joint letter to António Guterres and Michelle Bachelet, the UN Secretary-General and High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking them to take every possible and practical effort for the release of Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi.

In their letter, they spoke of physical and psychological torture and mistreatment to extract “forced confessions” from Ali Younesi and Ali Moradi.

This letter was signed by Noam Chomsky, MIT professor, Richard Roberts, 1993 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Barry Barish, Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Martin Shaffli, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Randy Schekman, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Jack Szostak, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, and David Wineland, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine.

Last year, Amnesty International warned about the danger of execution of Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi and, by publishing an open letter to Mohseni Ejei, head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, called for immediate action for them.

Amnesty International wrote in this letter that Ali Younesi’s left eye has suffered severe damage due to beatings. It also stated that the light in his cell was on for 24 hours and he had no sense of night and day, which has caused him psychological distress and pain in his head and eye area. Amirhossein Moradi also reported severe beatings he received during his arrest.

Source: DW