Court of Appeals Upholds Conviction of Alireza Kafaei to Six Months Prison
The Court of Appeals of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province has upheld the conviction of Alireza Kafaei, a retired teacher and political activist. Kafaei had previously been sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Gachsaran Revolutionary Court in the initial trial phase. This sentence has been suspended for a period of one year.
According to a report by Hrana news agency, the press organ of the Human Rights Activists in Iran collective, the Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Alireza Kafaei, a retired teacher and political activist.
Based on the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, Kafaei has been sentenced to six months imprisonment on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader. Due to his advanced age and illness, this sentence has been suspended for a period of one year.
The court based its ruling on content published on Kafaei’s Telegram channel and stated the following regarding the nature of the charges against him: “He has repeatedly criticized the performance of the Supreme Leader and held him responsible for current crises, and has declared that his performance during his leadership has led to the institutionalization of corruption throughout all branches of the system.”
Alireza Kafaei was sentenced to six months suspended imprisonment by the Gachsaran Revolutionary Court in the initial trial phase in March of this year.
The retired teacher had previously commented on his conviction, saying: “The charge title explicitly states insulting the Supreme Leader, while the text of the court’s ruling specifically mentions ‘criticism of the Supreme Leader,’ and in Article 514 of the Islamic Penal Code which the judge cited, only ‘insult to the Supreme Leader’ is considered punishable.”
Alireza Kafaei has a prior history of detention and conviction. On January 29, 2020, following a complaint filed by the Legal Affairs and Laws Office of the Guardian Council, Kafaei was arrested at his workplace by officers of the Sepah Intelligence Organization and was ultimately sentenced by the Second Criminal Court of Yasuj to pay 20 million rials in fines on charges of “spreading falsehoods with intent to disturb public opinion” under Article 698 of the Islamic Penal Code.
Alireza Kafaei is a retired teacher and political and cultural activist. He is the chairman of the Islamic Association of Teachers in Gachsaran, a member of the Islamic Association of Teachers of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, and the secretary of the Gachsaran Reformist Council. He served as the campaign representative for Hassan Rouhani’s presidential campaign headquarters in Gachsaran county in the 2017 presidential election.
Source: Hrana
