A lawyer was sentenced to 2 years in prison for two simple sentences criticizing Khamenei.
Mohammad Ali Kamfirozi , a lawyer in Iran, announced his sentence to a two-year suspended prison sentence for two sentences criticizing the Leader of the Islamic Republic.
Mohammad Ali Kamfirozi wrote in a Twitter thread on Monday, July 29, that he was summoned to court by the Shiraz Fajr Revolutionary Guard Intelligence Department for remarks he made during a Student Day speech two years ago at Shiraz University, and the court ultimately convicted him.
Mr. Kamfirozi explained that because he had said in his speech that the leadership's performance is also critical in defending the rights and freedoms of citizens, and that if the leadership is not aware of the violation of citizens' rights, it is regrettable, and if he is aware of it, it is a hundred times more regrettable, Branch One of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court has accused him of insulting the Leader of the Islamic Republic and sentenced him to two years of suspended imprisonment and 60 trips to Shiraz over five years.
According to this lawyer, the IRGC Intelligence Organization has filed several complaints against him in recent years based on baseless accusations, and a verdict has finally been issued against him regarding the speech in Shiraz.
This is not the first time that a lawyer has faced prison sentences. Previously, some lawyers, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, Amir Salar Davoudi, Payam Darfashan, Soheila Hijab, and Ali Mojtahidzadeh, have been arrested by security agencies and some of them have been sentenced to long prison terms by the Revolutionary Court.
In the past year, several civil and political activists inside Iran have been threatened, summoned, and sentenced to detention simply for signing a letter calling for Ayatollah Khamenei to resign as leader of the Islamic Republic.
The US State Department says that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil society activists, labor representatives, and other trade unionists in recent years .
Amnesty International has stated in its annual report on the state of human rights that the authorities of the Islamic Republic "severely" suppressed the "rights of freedom of expression, association and assembly" of the Iranian people in 2019.
Source: Voice of America
