After spending twenty-one years in prison without a single day off, Saeed Sangar released from Urmia Prison
31-October-2021
Category: Uncategorized
30-October-2021
Newsgroup: Prisoners –
Breathing in Confinement: On October 30, 2021, the political prisoner Saeed Sangar, was released from Urmia Prison.
According to “Breathing in Confinement”, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, On Saturday, October 30, 2021, after serving 21 years without leave, the political prisoner Saeed Sangar was released from Urmia Prison.
Saeed Sangar born on May 2, 1973, was arrested on August 31, 2000. His file however, states that he was arrested on October 29, 2000.
On November 18, 2000, less than two months after his arrest, he was sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, headed by Judge Fatemi, on charge of “moharebeh through membership in the Mojahedin Khalq Organization”. He received a death sentence while since the time of his arrest, he had been denied the right of access to a lawyer or contacting his family.
He afterward, was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison where he was held in solitary confinement until 2003. In December 2003, his death sentence was reduced to a life sentence on appeal. Later he was transferred to Urmia Prison. On December 23, 2016, his life-in-prison sentence was reduced to 18 years by Branch 4 of Sanandaj Sentence Enforcement Court.
In 2017, the agents of Ministry of Intelligence in Urmia opened a new case against him on charge of “propaganda against the regime.” Due to the lack of evidence, however, the charge was dropped.
Once again in mid-April 2020, in a new case opened against him, Saeed Sangar was sentenced by Urmia Revolutionary Court to 15 years in prison. This sentence also was overturned by the Supreme Court in November 2020, and the case was referred to a court of equal standing for retrial. Saeed Sangar was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison for complicity in the murder. Mr. Sangar attributes the accusation to an attempt by the security services to sabotage his release.
Again, in January 2021, Mr. Sangar was sentenced to 11 months in prison by the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Urmia on charge of “propaganda against the regime to support the opposition groups,” while his sentence had been completed, and he had served even two years longer than his sentence. The sentence finally, was reduced to eight months in prison for not appealing the court’s ruling.