Sentencing of Manouchehr Bakhtiari to '13 and a Half Months in Prison' and Rejection of Vida Rabani's 'Conditional Release'

The judiciary of the Islamic Republic has sentenced Manouchehr Bakhtiari, the father of justice-seeker Pouya Bakhtiari, one of the victims of the 2019 protests, to over '13 months' in prison. Additionally, this judicial body opposed the request for 'conditional release' of Vida Rabani, a journalist. The human rights news agency HRANA reported on Sunday, May 13, that Branch 110 of the Criminal Court 2 of Qazvin Province announced Mr. Bakhtiari's charge, who is currently in Qazvin Central Prison, as 'spreading falsehoods through computer systems.' The court session for this case was held via video conference on April 17 of this year. On the other hand, Parto Borhanpour, a lawyer, wrote on Sunday on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals opposed the request for conditional release of Vida Rabani, a jailed journalist, due to 'the necessity of maintaining public order and to reform and punish such criminals.' Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Iman Afshari, sentenced Ms. Rabani in January 2023 to six years in prison for 'collusion and conspiracy against national security' and to fifteen months for 'propaganda against the regime.' This journalist was arrested in Tehran during the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in response to the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the Islamic Republic's morality police. Previously, Ms. Rabani was also arrested in 2021 after calling on people to participate in a protest against the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane and was sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to ten years in prison and social deprivations. A six-month prison sentence for Manouchehr Bakhtiari has been 'confirmed.'