Arrest and Sentencing of Several Protesters, Students, and Artists in Iran

Human rights media have reported the arrest and sentencing of several protesters, students, and artists in recent days. According to the human rights organization "Hengaw", the third branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Zahedan on Wednesday, January 17, sentenced Omran Gorgij, a computer student, to eight months in prison on charges of "participating in protests". This 22-year-old Baluch citizen was arrested in Zahedan in October of this year and was temporarily released on bail after some time. At the same time, Sasan Chamanaran, a Kurdish artist from Ilam and one of the detainees of the nationwide protests, has been arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence. According to Hengaw, government forces not only confiscated this artist's electronic devices but also searched his sister's home. Based on this report, Mr. Chamanaran was arrested during the protests of 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police and was sentenced to five years in prison. Hengaw also reported the arrest of Aram Sabzi, a Kurdish citizen from Boukan, on Wednesday, adding that he was arrested following an assault by about thirty agents of the Ministry of Intelligence on his family home and was transferred to an unknown location. On the other hand, Siamak Nasiri, a resident of Karaj, who was released after being arrested during last year's nationwide protests due to a government pardon, has been sentenced to six years in prison and two years of exile, of which five years are enforceable under the law of cumulative sentences. According to Hengaw, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Karaj recently sentenced Siamak Nasiri, a 37-year-old prisoner, to five years in prison for "inciting people against security" and to one year in prison and two years of exile for "propaganda against the government". Earlier, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, Hrana, reported the arrest of this citizen by the agents of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence in early September and mentioned the date of his trial session in the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Alborz province as January 3. Human Rights Watch recently addressed the intensification of government repression in Iran in the months leading up to the anniversary of the protests and stated: "Iranian officials have intensified their crackdown on peaceful dissent through threats, arrests, prosecutions, and trials of activists, artists, dissidents, lawyers, academics, students, and relatives of those killed in the nationwide protests of 2022." U.S. officials have repeatedly protested human rights violations in Iran in recent years.