Transfer of Abdolrasool Mortazavi to Solitary Confinement After Criticism of Khamenei

A source close to Abdolrasool Mortazavi informed Voice of America that officials at Isfahan Central Prison transferred this political prisoner to solitary confinement after he published two audio messages criticizing the Islamic Republic and its leader. According to information received by the Persian section of Voice of America on Thursday, March 14, after the release of Mortazavi's audio messages on social media, Isfahan Central Prison officials deprived him of his right to use the telephone, and his family remains uninformed about his situation. The source close to Mr. Mortazavi told Voice of America that his family learned through contacts with the families of his fellow inmates that he had been taken to solitary confinement and deprived of contact and visitation rights. Based on information received by Voice of America, in recent days, Abdolrasool Mortazavi, in an audio message titled "Playing with the Leader, Playing with the Nation's Blood," stated that "from the early days of the revolution from 1983 to 1989, I was an official member of the Revolutionary Guards and considered a Hezbollah member," adding that during that time, "the Revolutionary Guards of that era did not consider Khamenei among the politicians and wise men of the nation, but rather saw him as a religious propagandist who could be used for promotional purposes in conferences and ceremonies." This political prisoner emphasized that "Khamenei was nothing more than a decoration and a podium to which policies could be communicated for him to promote with rhetoric," adding that he was "also a person of smoke and bad jokes" and "specifically, I had observed reports of his vulgar jokes with his comrades while I worked for a while in the Ansar Protection Secretariat of the Revolutionary Guards." Mr. Mortazavi referred to Khamenei's becoming an Ayatollah on a Sunday in 1989 and his leadership, stating that his critics then "with blind love and cult of personality" were willing to shed their own people's blood for him. Abdolrasool Mortazavi, who is a war veteran from the Iran-Iraq war, also requested his release in an open letter to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, stating, "What is national security that a veteran can endanger it merely by expressing his opinion about the government?" He added, "I have been imprisoned for more than five and a half years, and I want you to order my release." This political prisoner emphasized that he is "undoubtedly opposed to the Islamic Republic and its leader," adding, "In the Revolutionary Guards, I witnessed the inefficiency of the Islamic Republic and the officials of this system up close and reached the definite conclusion that this government, with this unrealistic and dictator-fostering constitution, will have a disastrous end and will bring Iran to its knees materially and spiritually, and since then I have been a political opponent of the regime." Mr. Mortazavi stated that since 2017, he has been active as "a patriotic and free-thinking Iranian" through social media, and he has been sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of "propagating against the regime, insulting the leadership, and forming a group of veterans for the purpose of undermining the security of the Islamic Republic." Abdolrasool Mortazavi is one of the signatories of the "14 Signatures Statement," which was published in June 2019, calling for a transition from the Islamic Republic and the resignation of its leader, Ali Khamenei. Additionally, it is noted that several signatories of the dual 14-signature letters for the transition from the Islamic Republic, including Mohammad Hossein Sepahri, Mohammad Nourizad, Hashem Khastar, Fatemeh Sepahri, and Narges Mansouri, remain in prison. Also mentioned are the trials in prison; Fatemeh Sepahri stated: either acquittal or imprisonment until the end of the Islamic Republic. The work permits of 12 ordinary prisoners have been revoked under the pretext of supporting the slogan "Death to the Dictator." Reza Mohammad Hosseini from prison stated: "The regime fears the laughter of children and the embrace of mothers." Zahra Sharif Kazemi, Araz Irani, and Hossein Azarpik have been detained. A message from a group of activists and prisoners states: "The phoenix of Iran rises again from the ashes."