Kesari Nouri, Gonabadi Dervish, Sentenced to 12 Years Imprisonment, Flogging and Exile

Reports indicate that Kesari Nouri, one of the Gonabadi dervishes who was arrested during the clashes on Khiaban-e Haftom in Tehran, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to Hrana, a website that publishes reports on Iranian human rights, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced Kesari Nouri to 12 years of punitive imprisonment, 74 lashes, 2 years of exile to Salsabil, 2 years of travel ban, and 2 years of deprivation of membership in political and social groups, parties, and factions, as well as media activities.

Mr. Nouri is a graduate student of law and one of the administrators of the Majzouban-e Noor website, which publishes news about Gonabadi dervishes.

The severe sentencing of Kesari Nouri and dozens of other Gonabadi dervishes comes at a time when many dervishes have protested in recent months against beatings during interrogation, denial of access to lawyers, and lack of fair trial procedures. Some dervishes also refused to attend court due to the violation of their legal rights. Some other dervishes considered the ideological questions and certain matters raised in the indictment as manifestations of thought investigation and therefore refrained from attending court.

A gathering of Gonabadi dervishes in front of the Pasdar police station on the last day of Bahman last year, in protest against the arrest of an elderly dervish, turned violent with the intervention of plainclothes officers and police forces.

During these clashes, which continued until the first day of Esfand, several police and Basij officers were killed, and hundreds of Gonabadi dervishes were arrested.

Source: Voice of America