Prison Officials Deny Manouchehr Bakhtiari Access to Phone for Three Months

A human rights organization announced that Manouchehr Bakhtiari, a prisoner advocating for justice, has been deprived of access to prison phones and contact with his family for three months by the prison's "Disciplinary Council" since January 9. According to Hrana, the news agency of human rights activists in Iran, Bakhtiari was speaking with his family about his 18-year prison sentence when his phone call was cut off, and his relatives suspect that the deprivation of contact was due to this conversation. Human rights organizations and activists have repeatedly reported that Iranian authorities deprive prisoners and their families of the right to phone calls and visits as a form of pressure. In one of the latest reports, Mehdi Maskinnavaz, a political prisoner, committed self-immolation in Evin Prison in protest against the severing of his contact with his teenage daughter. Bakhtiari's deprivation of contact with his family follows judicial harassment against him in prison, resulting in his sentencing by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Karaj to "18 years in prison and 74 lashes." Previously, Saba Bakhtiari, Manouchehr's sister, reacted to the judicial harassment against this justice-seeking prisoner by telling Voice of America that he has done nothing but seek justice for his child and for the land of Iran, asserting that "our people's struggle" against the Islamic Republic continues without fear of imprisonment. According to Saba Bakhtiari, most of the accusations against Manouchehr are the same as those he faced three and a half years ago, which resulted in a definitive sentence of three years and six months in prison, a two-year travel ban, and two years of exile outside of Tehran and Karaj. The pressures exerted by the Islamic Republic on the families of justice-seekers and political prisoners have been documented before. According to previous reports, Narges Mansouri, a political prisoner, went on hunger strike following the "seizure of her mother's house." Regarding these pressures on civil and political activists and the families of justice-seekers, Pouran Nazemi previously told Voice of America that the Islamic Republic exerts pressure by cutting off the "economic lifeline of activists" and their families. Previous reports also indicated that the house of Manouchehr Bakhtiari's sister, which had been pledged as bail to the Revolutionary Court of Karaj, has been put up for auction. Mehdi Bakhtiari reported the deterioration of their mother's health following the issuance of the 18-year prison sentence for Manouchehr Bakhtiari. His sister stated that while in exile and in solitary confinement, he has been accused of forming a group.