Continued Suppression of Civil Activists in Iran; Azerbaijani Activist Sentenced to Prison

As part of the ongoing crackdown on civil activists, dissenters, and opponents of the policies of Iran’s ruling regime, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary has sentenced an Azerbaijani civil activist to six months in prison.

A source close to the family of Sajjad Shahiri, an Azerbaijani (Turkic) civil activist, told Voice of America that Mr. Shahiri’s conviction to serve six months in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the system” comes despite the fact that no evidence or documents supporting this charge were presented in court, and Mr. Shahiri himself rejected the charge during the court hearing.

This informed source, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Voice of America that the court hearing on Sajjad Shahiri’s case was held on November 12 of the current year by Judge Amir Kiumarsi, head of Branch 103 of the Criminal Court of Naqadeh, and was officially served in person on Tuesday, November 18. He stated that this civil activist is expected to appeal the verdict in the coming days.

According to this informed source, initially two charges were brought against this Azerbaijani activist; however, he was acquitted of the charge of “membership in the GAMAJ group” in the issued verdict.

Based on information provided by this informed source to Voice of America, the charges against this civil activist in court were stated as “participation in November 2019 protests, a photograph of Mr. Shahiri next to a placard with separatist content at Tabriz Stadium, and insulting Qasem Soleimani on Instagram.” However, according to this informed source, these charges are baseless and no evidence or documents were presented in court to prove them.

This informed source said that Sajjad Shahiri was arrested by security forces in Naqadeh on January 16, 2020. He was initially taken to the Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Tabriz and, after 45 days of interrogation, was transferred to Tabriz Prison. Mr. Shahiri was ultimately released from prison on March 19 of the same year on a temporary basis pending the completion of legal proceedings after posting a bail of 500 million tomans.

According to this informed source, Mr. Shahiri was repeatedly threatened with assault and death by his interrogators during his detention and was threatened that his family would also be harassed. When members of Mr. Shahiri’s family followed up on his condition, they were falsely told that the civil activist had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for membership in the GAMAJ group. According to this informed source, these pressures caused Mr. Shahiri to go on a five-day hunger strike during his detention and to request a meeting with the judge handling his case.

This informed source told Voice of America that Mr. Shahiri had previously been arrested on July 22 of the previous year due to his activity on Instagram and on the charge of “propaganda against the system,” and on that occasion Judge Kiumarsi had also sentenced him to three months in prison.

This is not the first time that Azerbaijani activists have been arrested or sentenced to prison following unfair trials.