Isfahan City Council Member Barred from Attending Sessions Following IRGC Complaint

Mehdi Moghadari, a member of the Isfahan City Council, has announced that he has been banned from attending council sessions for six months. According to him, comments made in two Twitter and Instagram posts led to this ruling from the court.

Mr. Moghadari announced this news on Wednesday, April 10, explaining that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Isfahan Province and the Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the province were the complainants in his case.

This Isfahan City Council member had previously shown support on social media for Mehdi Hajeati, a detained member of the Shiraz City Council, as well as for Ali Asghar Ghuravi, a Quranic researcher, last year, and these posts resulted in his conviction in court.

Mehdi Hajeati, a member of the Shiraz City Council, was arrested by security forces on September 26 of last year for writing a tweet in support of “two detained Bahai friends.” He was released from prison on October 6 with a bail of 200 million tomans.

Islamic Republic officials, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, claim that no one is prosecuted or convicted in Iran merely for expressing opinions. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei also said at the beginning of the year 1397 (2019) in his speech in Mashhad that in Iran “freedom of speech exists and people are free to express different views.”

Source: Voice of America