Continued Hunger Strike of Javad Sudbar in Tabriz Intelligence Detention Center; Family Members Are Uninformed About His Condition

The hunger strike of Javad Sudbar, a civil activist imprisoned in Tabriz, entered its thirteenth day on Friday, January 1, while his family remains worried and uninformed about his condition and health. Mr. Sudbar has not contacted his wife, Elham Habibi, or other family members since he announced his hunger strike over the phone from the Tabriz Intelligence Detention Center 13 days ago. Previously, the 'Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran' (ADAP) reported on December 20 that individuals who were detained at the Tabriz Intelligence Office had reported torture of Javad Sudbar, Ali Babaei, Yurosh Mehrali Beigloo, and Davood Shiri, who were also detainees in Tabriz. ADAP condemned the torture of these three civil activists, citing their relatives, and added that 'Ali Babaei's head and Javad Sudbar's teeth were broken under torture, and Yurosh Mehrali Beigloo is subjected to daily beatings.' Additionally, it was reported that released detainees from the Tabriz Intelligence Office observed 'marks of cables and electric shocks' on Davood Shiri's body. The Ministry of Intelligence has not yet responded to this statement. Nevertheless, several political, professional, and civil activists, as well as human rights organizations, have repeatedly pointed to the physical and psychological torture practices in prisons and detention centers of the Ministry of Intelligence or the Revolutionary Guards. In this context, according to 'Hrana', the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Ali Babaei, another civil activist imprisoned at the Tabriz Intelligence Detention Center, is also being held in indefinite detention alongside Javad Sudbar. Hrana reported, citing a source close to the families of these political prisoners, that the temporary detention order for Mr. Sudbar and Babaei has been extended. This informed source, whose name Hrana did not disclose, stated that Mr. Sudbar had previously announced that he would go on hunger strike if his case was not addressed. According to him, Javad Sudbar has been deprived of the right to have a designated lawyer. Ali Babaei and Javad Sudbar were arrested by security forces in Tabriz on September 13. Meanwhile, Tatar Mehrali Beigloo, the child of Yurosh Mehrali Beigloo, a civil activist imprisoned in Tabriz, stated in a video published by ADAP that 'Today, at 17 years old, and my sister, Touran, is 5 years old, my father is again in the black prisons of intelligence, and we have been unaware of him for 45 days.' Tatar Mehrali Beigloo mentioned the arrests of several civil activists, including Ali Babaei, Milad Jalili, and Salar Taher Afshar, saying, 'No judicial authority answers us regarding the conditions of my father and other national activists.' Meanwhile, ADAP reported that Mohammad Maleki has been sentenced to 10 years and 3 months in prison by the Zanjan Provincial Court of Appeals. According to this report, his lawyer, Reza Shafakhah, was unable to defend and present a brief in the appellate court due to the lack of a court date announcement. Mohammad Maleki was arrested on the anniversary of the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Guidance Patrol in Zanjan and was released on bail of 600 million tomans after one month. Sina Yousafi speaks about the torture of civil activists in the unofficial detention center of the Tabriz Intelligence Office. The arrest of Hadi Gholizadeh occurred during the funeral of Ali Khalat Abadi in Tabriz. Painting over the image engraved on the gravestone of Ailar Haghi Maleki, one of the victims of the Tabriz protests. Armita Paveer, a imprisoned student activist, has been sentenced to prison. Exclusive: Saleh Malabasi, a political activist, has been arrested in the city of Ahar.