Mohammad Najafi, Imprisoned Lawyer in Iran, Sentenced to Prison Again
Mohammad Najafi, a lawyer and imprisoned human rights activist, has been sentenced to six months in prison by the Revolutionary Court.
According to the Campaign to Defend Political and Civil Prisoners, this lawyer currently detained in Arak Prison has been sentenced to six months in prison by Branch 23 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Shahmirzadi.
According to the report, this verdict was issued due to a speech delivered by Mohammad Najafi during a ceremony in 1395 (2016) at the home of Gohar Eshqi, the mother of Sattar Beheshti.
This verdict was issued to the lawyer while he had previously been sentenced on Sunday, June 23, by a ruling from Branch 8 of the Appeals Court of Markazi Province on charges of “spreading false information with intent to disturb public opinion” to serve two years in prison and pay a fine of 40 million rials.
Mr. Najafi had also previously been sentenced in another case at Branch 102 of the Criminal Court of Arak for the same charge to one year in prison, which was confirmed by Branch 9 of the Appeals Court of Markazi Province.
This lawyer was released on April 8 of this year with a “pardon” while serving his three-year sentence on charges of propaganda activities in favor of groups and organizations opposed to the system and insulting the leadership in Arak Prison. However, just four days after his release, he was transferred to Arak Central Prison to serve his ten-year sentence related to the December 2017 events and on charges of “cooperation with hostile states.”
He was arrested in 2017 following reports about Vahid Heidari, one of the protesters in December of that year who died in a detention facility in Arak.
In late November, the Human Rights Defenders Center also awarded its “Human Rights Advocate” award for 1398 (2019) to this imprisoned lawyer and human rights activist.
Likewise, on Thursday, November 28, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe issued a statement awarding its 2019 Human Rights Award to Mohammad Najafi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Abdolfattah Soltani, and Amirsalar Davoudi, four imprisoned lawyers in Iran.
The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned violent crackdowns and widespread suppression of protesters and human rights activists in Iran on various occasions, as well as the repeated and continuous violation of the rights of Iranian citizens by the regime governing the country.
Source: Voice of America
