Meeting with Saman Nasim

"Meeting" is a brief narrative about those whose lives are confined within the walls of a prison. In each segment of this program, we visit one of those individuals who are referred to as 'political-prisoners' by human rights organizations. Saman Nasim, a 24-year-old citizen from the city of Marivan in Kurdistan province, was only 17 when he was arrested. He was detained in early 2011 and spent four months in complete isolation, after which he was only allowed to inform his family of his survival through a short phone call. Initially, he was sentenced to death for 'moharebeh' (waging war against God) by the Revolutionary Court in Mahabad, a ruling that was confirmed by the Supreme Court in December 2013 and faced widespread criticism from human rights defenders. Amnesty International noted that Saman Nasim was under 18 at the time of his arrest, deeming the ruling a violation of Iran's commitments under the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, his death sentence progressed toward execution in the winter of 2015, sparking a wave of criticism on social media. Amidst uncertainty about his fate, many speculated that Saman Nasim had likely been secretly executed; however, he had been transferred to Zanjan prison, and no one, not even his family, knew of his whereabouts. Subsequently, the case was sent for reconsideration to Branch 2 of the West Azerbaijan Court of Appeals, and ultimately, Saman Nasim was acquitted of the charge of moharebeh. With this acquittal, after four years of imprisonment under the looming threat of execution, he was freed from the noose on February 24, 2018, by the ruling of the appeals court.