Journalist Soroush Farhadian sentenced to one year in prison again
Saeed Mirmohammadi, Soroush Farhadian's lawyer, says that this journalist has been sentenced to one year in prison by the Revolutionary Court for the third time in the past three years on charges of "propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
According to some media reports, Judge Salavati, head of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran Province, sentenced the journalist to one year in prison and two years of ban on media activity based on a complaint filed by the Ministry of Intelligence on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” However, the journalist’s sentence was changed to prison and ban on media activity after he appealed.
Soroush Farhadian was previously sentenced to seven months in prison by the Revolutionary Court of the Central Province in 2016 for a speech he made during the parliamentary elections, which was later reduced to a fine by the Court of Appeal. Also, about a month after this verdict was finalized, another case was filed on charges of propaganda against the regime, and Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran Province, headed by Judge Moghiseh, sentenced him to one year in prison in 2017.
This is not the first time that a journalist has been sentenced to prison in Iran. Not long ago, the International Federation of Journalists condemned the Tehran Revolutionary Court's issuance of prison sentences to three Iranian journalists, Marzieh Amiri, Masoud Kazemi, and Kiomars Marzban.
International human rights organizations and the United States government have repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of violating freedom of expression and suppressing civil activists, and have called for the release of journalists and writers who have been imprisoned simply for carrying out their duties and professions.
Source: Voice of America
