Mehdi Hajati Sent to Prison to Serve One-Year Sentence

Zahra Rastgari, the wife of Mehdi Hajati, a member of Shiraz City Council, announced on Sunday, June 2, 2019, on her personal Twitter account that he had been imprisoned to serve a one-year prison sentence. Zahra Rastgari tweeted: “A few hours ago, officers came to our home and transferred my husband #Mehdi_Hajati to prison to execute a one-year imprisonment sentence. Yesterday we received an SMS about the issuance of the sentence, and today it was executed.”

Mehdi Hajati, a member of Shiraz City Council and head of the Citizens’ Rights Commission of the council, was arrested on Thursday, September 27, 2018, by security forces two days after posting a tweet in defense of two Bahai citizens arrested in Shiraz. He was imprisoned for ten days and since his release has not been allowed to enter the city council or continue his professional activities.

Mehdi Hajati posted a tweet on his Twitter account on the third day of September 2018: “I have knocked on every door in the past ten days to free two arrested Bahai friends and have not succeeded. Our generation is obliged to continue trying to reform judicial procedures and other matters that endanger social justice, as long as we stand against foreign enemies.”

Public defense of Bahai rights, especially by one of the country’s officials, is not common. He was arrested two days after posting this tweet. The Farsi News Agency reported, citing “an informed source” on the day of Mehdi Hajati’s arrest, that “Hajati’s charge is supporting the misguided Bahai sect“.