A collective statement from civil and political activists in the country calling for the release of Mehdi Hajati, a detained member of the Shiraz City Council.
A group of Iranian political and civil activists In a statement protesting the arrest of Shiraz City Council member Mehdi Hajati, His retrial was held in a public court with a jury and he was eventually released. On June 3, 2019, Mehdi Hajati was transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to serve his one-year prison sentence on charges of “supporting the errant Baha’i sect” issued as a result of a tweet.
In this statement, signed by individuals such as Abdolfattah Soltani, Alireza Rajai, Hashem Aghajari, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Abdullah Momeni, and Saeed Madani, they called on the Iranian judiciary to release Mehdi Hajati and all political and ideological prisoners who " have been tried and imprisoned in clear violation of the principles of the constitution, especially Article 168 thereof ."
The beginning of this statement, published by the Kalameh website, refers to the fact that political and ideological defendants have no refuge in the Iranian judicial system and states : “ Political and ideological defendants are the most helpless in the Iranian judicial system. They stand up to unjust accusations with the support of their courage and moral honor, knowing that in these courts there is no jury or “justice” that upholds justice in its true position. This is a clear violation committed in the name of the law, and the fate of all those who are summoned to such courts is also clear in advance: imprisonment and prison.”
29 political, civil society, lawyer and university professor activists have written about Mehdi Hajati, who has been transferred to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz since June 1, 2019 to serve a one-year prison sentence: "Mehdi Hajati, a brave and young member of the Shiraz City Council, is also among this group, who went to his house a few days ago without any summons and sent him to prison. It is with Mehdi Hajati that we realize how difficult it is to truly exercise the right to represent and advocate for the people every day, to the extent that the ultimate goal of this truthfulness and unabashed defense of people's rights is imprisonment and imprisonment."
They continued their statement by protesting that government officials deny any violations of Baha'i rights in their international discussions, but arrest not only Baha'is but also those who defend them within the country: "A while ago, they attacked him for defending the rights of two Baha'i citizens; and they probably forgot that in every international or domestic forum, they themselves claim that Baha'is enjoy citizenship rights. Then they filed a legal case and accused him of propagandizing against the system, spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion, and lastly, of being a member of a 'national-religious hostile group.'"
These civil figures further pointed out that Mehdi Hajati made efforts in the Shiraz City Council to prevent the destruction of the city's traditional structures, and that one of the reasons for his arrest and silencing was probably these efforts. They wrote: "Should we believe that behind all these accusations there are not institutions of power and wealth that, by commercializing and destroying the city's vital structures, sacrifice the social existence of the majority of citizens for their own interests? In his short term of office, Hajati never remained silent in the face of this destruction and aggression, and it seems that the solution was to empty the Shiraz City Council of this eloquent and courageous voice with false political accusations. And now he has been sentenced to one year in prison and two years of forced residence in Tabas."
Referring to the intense daily pressure on political activists in the country, they wrote: "Every day we witness new news of pressure in prisons and the imprisonment of free and justice-seeking voices by order of the courts: from opposing the treatment of Rouyin Atoufat and Narges Mohammadi, to the continued detention of Keyvan Samimi, Marzieh Amiri, Masoud Kazemi. And... finally, the latest of them is the execution of Mehdi Hajati's sentence. This is the record of an institution whose independence has never been recognized. With such a history and record, perhaps the demand for the release of all these innocent people who spoke nothing but the truth and never took a step beyond defending the rights of citizens is nothing more than a futile attempt."
29 political and civil activists from the country concluded: "However, this does not stop us from continuing to insist on the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, including Mehdi Hajati - who have been tried and imprisoned in clear violation of the principles of the Constitution, especially Article 168 thereof - and on their retrial in open court with a jury present. June 2019"
The names of the signatories of this statement are: Hashem Aghajari - Ghorban Behzadiannejad - Mostafa Tajzadeh - Mohammad Tavasoli - Mohammad Hosseininia - Behzad Haqpanah - Khosrow Dalirsani - Mahmoud Dardekshan - Alireza Rajai - Bahman Rezakhani - Mohammad Rezai - Ahad Rezai - Hossein Rafiei - Reza Raisi Toosi - Abdolfatah Soltani - Ehsan Shariati - Firuzeh Saber - Hashem Sabaghian - Mahmoud Omrani - Ghaffar Farzadi - Abolfazl Ghadiani - Nizamuddin Ghahari - Mohammad Kianoushrad - Fatemeh Guvarai - Mohammad Mohammadi Ardhali - Saeed Madani - Mohammad Moghiseh - Abdullah Momeni - Ali Nikjoo
