Trial of a Dervish without a Defense Attorney; Mohsen Azizi Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Niloufar Dowlatshah told VOA that Mohsen Azizi was not allowed to visit his family for more than a month after his arrest, which could be due to the time it took for the bruises on his body to fade due to the beatings he suffered during his detention.

Mohsen Azizi was arrested on March 2, 2017, after being beaten by security officers and transferred to Fashafoyeh Prison, following a large presence of security forces in plain clothes in Golestan 7, in front of the house of Noor Ali Tabandeh, the head of the Gonabadi Dervish Order. He was arrested along with hundreds of other dervishes, and transferred to Fashafoyeh Prison.

Niloufar Dowlatshah says that our only demand as the family of the imprisoned dervishes is for government officials to enforce the law.

In recent years, the United States has protested in human rights reports about widespread violations of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in Iran, and in a tweet on the occasion of Cyrus Day, a spokesperson for the US State Department called on the Islamic Republic to learn from Cyrus about his leadership and stop the prosecution of Baha'is, Christian converts, Gonabadi Dervishes, and other minority groups in Iran.