Three Family Members Sentenced to Approximately 32 Years in Prison; New 'Case Fabrication' Against Fatemeh Sepahri and Her Brothers

The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mashhad has sentenced three members of the Sepahri family to a total of approximately 32 years in prison. According to the ruling of the fifth branch of this court, Fatemeh Sepahri has been sentenced to over 18 years in prison, while her brothers Mohammad Hossein has received an eight-year sentence and Hossein has been sentenced to more than five and a half years. Based on information published on Asghar Sepahri's X account on Sunday, June 9, 'after the second court session' held on June 7 under the presidency of 'Hossein Yazdankhah, judge of branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad,' Fatemeh Sepahri was sentenced to eighteen and a half years in prison. According to this report, Ms. Sepahri, a political prisoner currently held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, has been sentenced to 'seven years in prison' for 'supporting Israel,' 'seven years in prison' for 'collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime against internal security,' 'three years in prison' for 'insulting Khamenei,' and 'one year and six months' for 'propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic.' The charge of 'collusion and conspiracy' against Ms. Sepahri comes despite her being imprisoned since September 2022, and the charge of 'supporting Israel' was attributed to her after she condemned the 'terrorist attack by Hamas.' Furthermore, during the terrorist attack on October 7 by Palestinian militants in southern Israel, 1,200 people, mostly civilians including women, children, and the elderly, were killed, and 253 others were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. Currently, more than 100 hostages remain captive by Palestinian militants. Asghar Sepahri also emphasized that his brother Mohammad Hossein Sepahri, who is also in Vakilabad Prison, has been sentenced by the fifth branch of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad to 'five years' for 'collusion and conspiracy,' 'two years' for 'insulting Khamenei,' and 'one year' for 'propaganda activities against the regime.' Additionally, the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad sentenced Hossein Sepahri to 'three years and seven months' for 'collusion and conspiracy' against the Islamic Republic, 'one year and four months' for 'insulting Khamenei,' and 'seven months' for 'propaganda activities against the regime.' According to him, Fatemeh Sepahri's phone calls are 'heavily monitored,' and despite undergoing open-heart surgery on September 29 last year and hand surgery in August 2023, she has 'not been granted any leave.' Fatemeh Sepahri's brothers were arrested by intelligence agencies a day before her open-heart surgery while they were present outside Qaem Hospital in Mashhad to follow up on her condition, and Mohammad Hossein Sepahri has been in prison for 'over eight months' since then. The mother of this human rights activist, referring to the 'case fabrication against her children' and the new sentences and announced restrictions on her imprisoned children's communications, addressed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, saying: 'So many women and children, young and old are being killed, our son-in-law who was killed in the Iran-Iraq war, and all this misery has come upon us, what sin have we committed?' Fatemeh Sepahri, a political activist and one of the signatories of the '14th Statement' for the transition from the Islamic Republic and the resignation of its leader Ali Khamenei, stated in an interview with Voice of America on September 20, 2022, one day before her arrest, that the people do not want the Islamic Republic and this time they will finish the work.