Reza Younesi Reports Five-Year Prison Sentence for His Father, Mir Youssef Younesi

Reza Younesi, son of Mir Youssef Younesi, announced on social media platform X on Tuesday that the Revolutionary Court has sentenced his father to five years in prison on charges of collaborating with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, without providing any evidence to substantiate this accusation. Mr. Younesi wrote on X: "My father was not taken to the court session due to his refusal to wear prison clothes, and Judge Iman Afshari did not allow the lawyers to defend him during the court session. After the lawyers protested the lack of evidence presented by the Ministry of Intelligence, the judge rejected the objection and issued the ruling based on the report from the agents." He also added: "The thugs of the Ministry of Intelligence knew very well that Mir Youssef Younesi had no connection to their alleged case, but they practically involved him in this case for revenge, equating him with the main accused who is outside Iran, and issued similar five-year prison sentences for both." Aida Younesi, daughter of Mir Youssef Younesi, also reported on January 7 on the social media platform X about her father's poor physical condition in Evin prison and the Ministry of Intelligence's prevention of his transfer outside the prison for treatment, but at the same time wrote: "Recently, the lawyer has gained access to the case." Youssef Younesi is the father of Ali Younesi, a "computer engineering student at Sharif University and a gold medalist in the Astronomy Olympiad in 2017," who was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to 16 years in prison after months of solitary confinement. Ali Younesi has also been accused in court of having connections with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, an accusation that his family has called "ridiculous." The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic claimed on December 31, 2022, after the arrest of Mir Youssef Younesi, that it had identified "the largest network supplying funding and equipment for operational teams" of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iran and arrested some key individuals of this network.