Mohammad Seifzadeh Summoned to Evin Prison to Serve Sentence; His Charge is Sending a Letter to the UN Secretary-General

Saeed Dehghan, a human rights lawyer, reported that Mohammad Seifzadeh, an attorney, has been summoned to Evin Prison to serve his prison sentence. The reason for this imprisonment is his letter to the UN Secretary-General protesting the wave of executions and the suppression of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement. Mohammad Seifzadeh, a veteran lawyer and one of the founders of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, has previously brought two Nobel Peace Prizes to Iran for Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, according to Saeed Dehghan. On May 14, 2023, he was sentenced to one year in prison by Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran for what was termed 'propaganda against the regime' and 'spreading falsehoods.' In an audio file sent to the Persian section of Voice of America, he stated, 'I did not attend the court due to formal and substantive reasons, including the illegality of revolutionary courts and the mismatch between the act of seeking justice and the attributed charge, as I consider them illegal.' On December 10, 2022, along with 44 other Iranian activists, he described the situation in Iran as 'bloody and inflamed' and 'horrific and terrifying' in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, emphasizing that the 'transformative movement of Women, Life, Freedom' has transcended all boundaries. The signatories of the letter referred to the 'horrific, rushed, and illegal' execution of Mohsen Shekari, a 23-year-old protester, and urged the UN Secretary-General to use legal leverage to prevent the execution of illegal and inhumane sentences and to demand that the Islamic Republic cease the issued sentences and halt the 'illegal trials of protesters, including children and others.' Mohammad Seifzadeh has faced prison sentences multiple times before. This 76-year-old lawyer, a founding member of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, is a political prisoner and human rights activist who, in February 2018, called for a referendum under the supervision of the United Nations for a 'peaceful transition' from the current regime to a secular parliamentary democracy, emphasizing the 'irrevocability' of the Islamic Republic. In his Nowruz message, Mohammad Seifzadeh stated, 'I was asked to sign a repentance letter, but I did not.' The confirmation of his one-year prison sentence in the appeals court; Seifzadeh: 'I did not repent.' Another lawyer on the way to prison; the one-year sentence for Mohammad Seifzadeh has been finalized. Summoning two lawyers to the appeals court for 'commitment'; Seifzadeh: 'The revolutionary court is illegal.' One year of punitive imprisonment for two lawyers; Seifzadeh: 'The act committed is seeking justice.'