Tehran Court of Appeals Confirms Prison Sentences for 10 Civil Activists

The 36th branch of the Tehran Court of Appeals has rejected the appeals of 10 Azerbaijani civil activists and upheld the heavy prison sentences issued by Judge Salavati. The Azerbaijani Political Prisoners Defense Association (ADAP) reported on Thursday, January 17, that Ayaz Seyfkhah was sentenced to 14 years, Araz Aman Zarin Abad to 13 years, Baqer Hajizadeh Mazraeh to 13 years, Karam Mardaneh Mostali Beigloo to 11 years, Taher Naqvi (a lawyer) to 6 years, Salar Taher Afshar to 5 years, Morteza Purvin Joda to 6 years, Hassan Ebrahimi to 3 years, Saeed Minaei Qashlaq to 5 years, and Fatemeh Atash Khiyavi Nasab to 5 years in prison. ADAP noted that the charges against these Azerbaijani activists included espionage, actions against national security, conspiracy to disrupt the security of the country, and propaganda against the regime. According to the report, previously, in connection with this case, Vadood Asadi was sentenced to 4 years, Abdulaziz Azimi Qadeem (a defrocked cleric) to 6 years, Hossein Peiri to 5 years, Kamal Noori to 3 years, and Soleiman Mohammadi to 3 years of imprisonment by the 15th branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Salavati, and the sentences for these individuals have also been finalized. Additionally, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Rasht, while reiterating the charges from the case presented in Tehran, sentenced Vadood Asadi to 5 years and 6 months in prison in addition to the initial 4-year sentence. Furthermore, another case has been opened against Saeed Minaei Qashlaq for spreading falsehoods in the Maragheh Prosecutor's Office, following a complaint from the Kaveh Soudai Maragheh factory, where Mr. Minaei defended himself in court on January 17. ADAP stated that the Kaveh Soudai Maragheh factory is owned by the economic mafia of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has caused severe pollution of surface and groundwater in the region. According to the report, in recent months, this company has been attempting to transfer toxic waste through piping towards Lake Urmia, which was protested by Saeed Minaei. The Azerbaijani Political Prisoners Defense Association in Iran reported that these civil activists were arrested on February 5 of the previous year in the cities of Bonab, Rasht, Islamshahr, Astara, Karaj, Maragheh, Ardabil, Moghan, Urmia, and Tabriz, with some of them still in detention since their arrest. Ibrahim Mohajer, the public relations officer of ADAP, described these charges leading to heavy sentences as fabricated, stating to Voice of America: 'None of these individuals had access to classified information that would substantiate the espionage charges against them.' He pointed out: 'The Islamic Republic government arrested these individuals en masse from various cities, such that some of the defendants in the case do not even know each other and have been held in detention for over a year.' According to the ADAP spokesperson, 'The basis for these charges is merely speculation from the Ministry of Intelligence and greetings exchanged between these individuals and an Iranian refugee residing in Azerbaijan, and the government is trying to create a climate of fear through heavy sentences to prevent the active presence of Azerbaijani political and civil forces in the struggle.'