Two civil and political activists in Sari and Mahabad sentenced to prison
Reports indicate that two political and civil activists have been sentenced to prison in separate court rulings.
The HRANA website, which publishes Iranian human rights news, reported that former political prisoner Kavous Kiani received his 10-year prison sentence on July 8th at Branch 28 of the Sari Court of Appeals.
According to this report, Mr. Kiani was arrested in February last year on charges of managing a Telegram channel in Fereydounkenar, and was released from Babol Prison after 27 days. In March last year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Branch 101 of the Fereydounkenar Court.
He was arrested in 1988 and imprisoned for three years on charges of membership in the "Arman Mostazafin" organization. During his recent arrest, he was accused of "disturbing national security," "forming a Telegram group and channel opposed to the regime," and "disturbing public opinion."
This ruling was issued while Mr. Kiani was deprived of having a lawyer.
On the other hand, Bakhtiar Arefi, the Secretary of Education, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of membership in the "Dawat and Reformation Group", was sent to Mahabad Prison.
News websites that publish news from Kurdistan reported that he was arrested in February 2014 and was eventually temporarily released after a month on bail.
Mr. Arefi was tried in March 2016 and sentenced to three years in prison, but this sentence was reduced to 18 months in November 2017 by Branch 13 of the Urmia Court of Appeals.
The pressure exerted by the Islamic Republic's judicial and security apparatus on civil and political activists has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights organizations.
Source: Voice of America
