Transfer of a Dual National Citizen from Solitary Confinement to General Ward; 'Prince Serin' Remains 'In Limbo'

Three months after the arrest of Serin Curtis (Badiei), a dual national Iranian-New Zealander, a human rights organization announced that he remains 'in limbo' and imprisoned in the general ward of Karaj Central Prison. According to the report by Hahrana, the media organ of human rights activists in Iran, on Sunday, June 23, Serin Badiei, a blogger who introduced himself on social media as 'Prince Serin', was arrested upon his return to Iran on March 25 of this year and is accused of 'insulting sacred things, propaganda against the regime, and actions against the security' of the Islamic Republic. This blogger, who has been in prison for 91 days, was taken to solitary confinement in Hall 12 of Karaj Central Prison shortly after his arrest by intelligence agents and was transferred to the general ward of this prison in late June. In the early days of March and during Nowruz, he published videos of his presence in various areas of Alborz Province, which attracted the attention of users on social media. After the arrest of this dual national citizen, Mehdi Kashtdar, the CEO of the Mizan News Agency affiliated with the judiciary, referred to Serin Curtis as 'a person who insults sacred things'; the charge of 'insulting sacred things' under the laws of the Islamic Republic exposes the arrested individual to the death penalty. In May 2023, Iranian judicial authorities executed Youssef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, who managed several Telegram channels, on charges of 'insulting the Prophet' and 'apostasy'. Following the execution of these two citizens by the Islamic Republic in Iran, Vedant Patel, Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, condemned it, stating in response to a question from the Persian section of Voice of America that this action is 'a serious reminder of the Iranian regime's intense desire to abuse and violate the human rights of the people of Iran.'