Arrest of Akbar Azad after appearing in the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Baharestan

10-August-2021

Newsgroup: Prisoners –

Breathing in Confinement: Akbar Azad, a writer and activist living in Azerbaijan, was arrested by judicial officers on August 9, 2021, after appearing in Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Baharestan town in Tehran, from where he was transferred to an unknown location.

According to Breathing in Confinement, The news organ  of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Akbar Azad was arrested after appearing in Branch 2 of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran, for change of bail which was rejected by judicial authorities.

Mr. Azad had previously been sentenced to two years in prison as well as two years in exile in the City of  Darehshahr in Ilam province, on charge of “participating in the formation of a group to disrupt the national security.”

It should be mentioned that Mr. Azad needs be persistently under medical care because of his various diseases, including skin cancer, which has left the other activists as well as his relatives worried about his condition.

In 2016, on charge of “participating in the formation of a group to disrupt the security of the country,” Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, Behnam Sheikhi and Hamid Monafi, were convicted by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Akbar Azad was sentenced to 10 years in prison as well as two years deportation to Darehshahr in Ilam province, Alireza Farshi to15 years in prison and two years deportation to Baghmalek in Khuzestan province, Behnam Sheikhi to 10 years imprisonment as well as two years of exile to Masjed Soleiman in Khuzestan province and Hamid Monafi to 10 years in prison in Azna. However, later in the Court of Appeal, the sentences of all four prisoners were reduced to two years ‘imprisonment as well as two years of deportation.