Abdolreza Davari, Media Advisor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sent to Evin Prison to Serve Sentence

Reports indicate that Abdolreza Davari, media advisor to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was arrested and sent to Evin Prison on Wednesday, April 29. An informed source confirmed to Fars News Agency that "he was arrested to serve his sentence and sent to Evin Prison." Davari's Telegram channel also reported his arrest, stating that he was detained by Tehran's prosecutor's office to enforce the sentence. According to ILNA, Abdolreza Davari was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in September 2015 by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati, in connection with three comments made by "unknown individuals" on a Facebook page attributed to him, accused of insulting the leadership of the Islamic Republic. However, Branch 36 of the Appeals Court, presided over by Judge Zargar, reduced Davari's prison sentence to two years. ILNA states: "Davari's conviction occurred under circumstances where, based on expert reviews from the Cyber Police, the IRGC Cyber Center, and the Informatics Center of the Judiciary, there were no charges against Abdolreza Davari regarding the alleged cases." Abdolreza Davari previously served as the deputy to Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the former CEO of IRNA news agency. He was also fined one million tomans for an interview with Javanfekr while managing the Citizen newspaper, which is close to Ahmadinejad. IRNA had previously reported that Davari headed the retirement fund of the National Copper Company in the final years of Ahmadinejad's administration. Before the 2009 presidential election, he was responsible for the Research Department and also served as the Deputy News Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency.