Majid Tavakoli, Political Activist, Released on Bail

Social media users have reported with images and posts that Majid Tavakoli, a political activist, has been released. Mr. Tavakoli, who was imprisoned on October 7 of last year, was released from Evin Prison on Saturday, July 27, 'on bail and with the acceptance of a retrial.' On January 22, 2024, it was announced that the Supreme Court had accepted the request for a retrial of Majid Tavakoli's case, stating that it did not consider him guilty of the charges against him, and his case was referred for reconsideration to a parallel branch. However, a few days later, Milad Panahi Pour and Masoud Ahmadian, lawyers for Majid Tavakoli, announced in an interview with the Jamaran website that the five-year prison sentence for their client had been upheld. They stated that Branch 54 of the Tehran Court of Appeals had confirmed the ruling of Branch 36 of that court and did not accept the Supreme Court's opinion regarding the dismissal of Mr. Tavakoli's charges. Maryam Tabandeh, Majid Tavakoli's wife, also announced on the social media platform X that the five-year prison sentence for her husband had been confirmed, sharing a letter from the Ministry of Intelligence. According to this letter, this political prisoner is 'seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic' and 'establish a liberal government,' and for this reason, 'the ruling of Branch 36 is upheld.' According to Ms. Tabandeh, the previous sentence, which included 'five years of imprisonment, two years of exile, and a ban on social media presence,' has been confirmed for this political prisoner. Majid Tavakoli had been imprisoned for five years following the 2009 protests and spent about three months in detention during the 2022 protests.