Sentencing of 34 Gonabadi Dervishes to 114 Years in Prison

The Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced 25 imprisoned Gonabadi dervishes in 'Type Four' of Greater Tehran Prison to a total of '69 years' in prison. Nine other dervishes in the same prison have also been sentenced to 45 years in prison and 222 lashes. The protest gathering of Gonabadi dervishes on February 19, 2018, around the house of Nourali Tabandeh, the leader of this order, turned violent due to the intervention of security forces and motorcyclist plainclothes agents. Reports indicate that 500 dervishes were arrested during these clashes, of which 360 are still imprisoned. The website 'Majzooban Noor,' which covers news related to Gonabadi dervishes, published the names of all 25 individuals and the sentences issued for them on Sunday, June 23. The prison sentences for these individuals range from six months to seven years, and one dervish named Faramarz Mangari was sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with 74 lashes and two years of exile to Roodbar in Kerman Province. Another report from Majzooban Noor indicates that nine other imprisoned dervishes in Greater Tehran Prison have been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison and 222 lashes. The prison sentences for them also range from six months to seven years, and three of them, named Mostafa Rahsepar, Jahangir Haqani, and Abolfazl Baba Hosseini, have each been sentenced to 74 lashes. The Revolutionary Court has also sentenced one of these individuals, named Mehdi Eskandari, to two years of exit ban from the country. According to reports, these dervishes were arrested during the Golestan Seventh incident with 'severe beatings' and were deprived of 'all legal rights, access to a lawyer, and the right to a fair trial' during the interrogation and trial process. These sentences were issued shortly after Mohammad Thalath, one of the dervishes accused of killing three law enforcement officers with a bus during the dervish protests around Mr. Tabandeh's house, was executed. Zeinab Taheri, Thalath's lawyer, who has repeatedly stated that her client is 'innocent,' has not only been arrested but also accused by the Tehran prosecutor of lacking 'sufficient knowledge' of her client's case and 'inciting' public opinion. Following reports of Ms. Taheri's arrest, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi emphasized the legal prosecution of this attorney, stating that she has 'mobilized the counter-revolution against the judiciary.' Reports from dervish activists in cyberspace and the Majzooban Noor website also indicate a 'hunger strike' by 10 female dervish prisoners in Qarchak Prison in protest against 'beatings' and 'organized violence' by the prison guards. According to dervish rights activists, these women are being held in 'general wards' of Qarchak Prison, contrary to the prison organization's regulations regarding the separation of crimes. After reports of 'beatings' of several female dervish prisoners in Qarchak Prison were published, the daughter of Mohammad Raji, a dervish who died in the custody of the law enforcement agency, reported a 'telephone summons' to the Ministry of Intelligence. Ms. Raji reacted to this action by the Ministry of Intelligence on her Twitter account, writing: 'You slaughtered my father, so I should not speak? By God, it is better for me to die than to live in humiliation.' Mohammad Raji, a Gonabadi dervish arrested during the clashes on Pasdaran Street, died a few days after his arrest in March 2018. Judicial officials do not accept his death in custody and claim he was killed in the street.