Four signatories of letter calling for Khamenei's resignation sentenced to over 40 years in prison
Fatemeh Sepehri, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, Mohammad Nourizad, and Hashem Khaster, four of the signatories of the letter of resignation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, have been sentenced to a total of 40 years and 4 months in prison by the Court of Appeals of Khorasan Razavi Province.
According to the Human Rights in Iran news website, Branch 35 of the Khorasan Razavi Province Court of Appeals issued a verdict on Sunday, April 1, sentencing these four activists to a total of 40 years and 4 months in prison on charges of "membership in anti-regime groups with the intent to disrupt the country's security," "propaganda activity against the regime," and "establishing and managing a Telegram channel with the intent to disrupt the country's security."
According to available information, this verdict was verbally communicated to the lawyer of these political activists on Sunday when he went to the Khorasan Razavi Province Justice Department.
According to this report and based on the announced verdict, Hashem Khastar has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, Mohammad Nourizad to 15 years in prison, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri to 6 years in prison, and Fatemeh Sepehri to 3 years and 4 months in prison.
On the other hand, Hashem Khastar and Mohammad Nourizad have each been sentenced to a 2-year ban on leaving the country and 2 years of exile in Nikshahr and Izeh city, respectively, as additional punishment.
An informed source told the Human Rights in Iran website that another case has been filed against these four political activists on charges of "disturbing public order and disrupting public peace" and "insulting the leadership through publishing material in cyberspace" and referred to the 2nd Criminal Court of Mashhad, and the hearing date for this case has been announced for Friday, April 12.
Hashem Khastar, Mohammad Nourizad, Zaratosht Ahmadi-Ragheb, Reza Mehregan, Mohammad Reza Bayat, Kamal Jafari Yazdi, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, Gohar Eshghi (mother of Sattar Beheshti), Hourieh Farajzadeh (sister of Shahram Farajzadeh, one of those killed in the 2009 protests), Mohammad Karimbeigi, Javad Lal-Mohammadi, Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Mahdavifar, and Abbas Vahedian Shahroudi were the signatories of the letter calling for Khamenei's resignation.
In mid-August 2019, 14 female civil activists, considering the inequalities and problems of women in Iran, published a letter calling for the Islamic Republic to be abolished and a new constitution to be drafted.
Shahla Entesari, Nosrat Beheshti, Fereshteh Rezati, Parva (Sekineh) Pachideh, Giti Pourfazel, Ezzat Javadi-Hesar, Zahra Jamali, Shahla Jahanbin, Fatemeh Sepehri, Maryam Soleimani, Susan Taherkhani, Farangis Mazloum, Narges Mansouri, and Kimia Norouzi-Saber were the signatories of this letter.
Earlier, the Islamic Republic's security officials had accused the signatories of these letters of trying to "plan a new sedition." Many of the signatories of these two letters have been arrested.
International human rights organizations and the United States government have accused the Islamic Republic of violating freedom of expression and suppressing civil activists, and have called for the release of journalists who have been imprisoned simply for carrying out their duties and careers.
The US State Department also says that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, representatives of workers and other trade unions in the last two years.
Source: Voice of America
