38 years imprisonment for 5 political activists in Tehran
5-August-2021
Category: Prisoners
5-August-2021
Newsgroup: Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement: Five political defendants, Nahid Taghavi, Mehran Raouf, Somayeh Kargar, Bahareh Soleimani, and Nazanin Mohammadnejad, were sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to a total of 38 years in prison. Nahid Taghavi and Mehran Raouf are currently being held in Evin Prison, and the other three are released on bail.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, Nahid Taghavi, Mehran Raouf, Somayeh Kargar, Bahareh Soleimani and Nazanin Mohammadnejad were sentenced to prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Their sentences were issued by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari and were communicated to their lawyers.
Mostafa Nili, the defense attorney of the defendants, confirming the news in a tweet, wrote: ”Nahid Taghavi and Mehran Raouf were each sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison on charges of ‘participation in the management of an illegal group as well as propaganda activities against the regime.’ Somayeh Kargar and Bahareh Soleimani were each sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison on similar charges, and Nazanin Mohammadnejad was also sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison on the same charges.”
The trials of these five political defendants were held on April 28 and June 13, 2021.
Nahid Taghavi, a dual Iranian-German citizen, was arrested on October 19, 2020, at her home in Tehran and transferred to the solitary confinement in IRGC’s detention center. During her arrest, security forces searched her home and confiscated some of her personal belongings, including books, laptops, and cell phones.
Simultaneously, Somayeh Kargar, Mehran Raouf and Bahareh Soleimani were arrested by IRGC intelligence agents and transferred to Ward 2A of Evin Prison, the IRGC’s detention center.
Ms. Mohammadnejad was arrested on Tuesday night, December 8, and Elham Samimi was arrested on Tuesday, November 24, 2020. Among them, Nahid Taghavi and Mehran Raouf are still in custody while Ms. Soleimani was released on February 24 and Nazanin Mohammadnejad was released on bail of 1 billion and 200 million Tomans on February 2, 2021, awaiting the court’s decision. Elham Samimi was also released on December 10, 2020, after depositing a bail of one billion and three hundred million Tomans.
On June 12, 2021, after spending about 8 months in Ward 2A, Mr. Raouf was transferred to Ward 1 of Evin Prison.