Mohammad Nourizad sent on medical leave from Evin Prison
On Thursday, July 8, Mohammad Nourizad, a civil activist imprisoned in Evin Prison, was sent on sick leave after submitting a bail application.
According to HRANA News Agency, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, today, Thursday, July 8, 2021, civil activist Mohammad Nourizad was sent on leave from Evin Prison.
Mr. Nourizad was released an hour ago after paying 800 million tomans in bail money. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer, confirmed the news on his personal page and wrote: “The interesting thing is that they did not consider one person’s bail sufficient, so my client’s brother and I took over his bail. He should start treatment on Saturday.”
It is worth noting that Mohammad Nourizad, who suffers from underlying diseases such as asthma, heart problems, and blood pressure, had previously injured his head and face during a meeting with his family in protest of the lack of medical care, saying: "Every day he will inflict a deep wound on himself so that if his goal is to die, it will be achieved sooner."
Mohammad Hossein Aghasi said in an interview with HRANA on July 25: “My client has lost 25 kilos of weight and suffered severe hearing loss after 102 days of hunger strike and 105 days of drug strike. He inflicts several wounds on himself every day as a sign of protest, and has fainted 37 times so far.”
According to this lawyer, Mohammad Nourizad said during a meeting with him: "I do not want my name to be on the list of those who are indifferent to current affairs, and I even sacrificed my life for this."
Earlier, UN experts expressed their concern over the condition of Mohammad Nourizad, a civil society activist imprisoned in Evin Prison, in a statement and called for his immediate release. In the statement, Javed Rahman, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and a number of other UN experts stated that Mr. Nourizad's health condition is so serious that if he continues to be deprived of medical treatment and care, he will face serious complications and possible death.
In mid-August 2019, a letter signed by 14 civil society activists calling for Ayatollah Khamenei’s resignation was published. A number of signatories were arrested and others were pressured after the letter was published. On August 10, 2019, Mr. Nourizad, along with a number of trade union and civil society activists, was arrested by security forces in front of the court of appeal of Kamal Jafari Yazdi, a university professor imprisoned in Mashhad Prison, and was transferred to Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad some time later. He was finally transferred from Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad to Evin Prison last year.
In the first part of his case, Mr. Nourizad was sentenced by Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mansouri, to 15 years in prison, 3 years in exile to Izeh, and a 3-year ban on leaving the country, on charges including “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, insulting sacred places, insulting the leadership, disturbing public opinion, cooperating with foreign media, and participating in illegal gatherings.” This sentence was changed to 15 years in prison, 2 years in exile to Izeh, and a 2-year ban on leaving the country during the appeal stage by Branch 35 of the Khorasan Razavi Province Court of Appeal.
In August 2020, in the second part of his case, he was sentenced by the Mashhad Criminal Court No. 2 for being present in front of the building where the Kamal Jafari Yazdi Appeals Court was held, to 8 months of imprisonment, 74 lashes, and exile to Tabas on the charge of “disturbing public order,” and to 74 lashes on the charge of “spreading lies.” This sentence was ultimately confirmed by the Khorasan Razavi Province Appeals Court.
On May 29, Mr. Nourizad announced that the Ivanki County Court had issued him another one-year prison sentence for defending the rights of Baha'i citizens living in the city of Ivanki in Semnan Province.
Mr. Nourizad has a history of being arrested and convicted for peaceful civil society activities. Mohammad Nourizad is a 66-year-old Iranian director, screenwriter, and journalist. He was considered a hardline and religious journalist who joined the ranks of active critics of the Islamic Republic in the late 1980s and has been arrested and imprisoned many times in recent years for his civil society activities and visits to the families of political prisoners.
It is also worth mentioning his son Ali Nourizad; on Sunday, January 12, 2019, during a protest rally against the downing of a Ukrainian plane by the IRGC Air Defense and expressing sympathy for the families of the victims, he was arrested by security forces in Tehran and on February 3, 2019, he was temporarily released from prison after posting bail until the end of the trial. Mr. Nourizad was ultimately sentenced to 3 and a half years of penal servitude by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, and this sentence was confirmed by the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal. On October 1, 2019, after appearing at the Evin Courthouse’s Sentence Execution Unit, he was arrested and transferred to Greater Tehran Prison to serve his sentence.
Source: HRANA
