Transfer of Nazak Afshar to Women's Ward of Evin Prison; Three More Years Added to Badaghi's Sentence

The Kaleme website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, reported on Friday, March 18, that Nazak Afshar, a former employee of the cultural section of the French embassy in Tehran, has not been released despite the issuance of bail due to 'administrative delays' and has been transferred to the women's ward of Evin Prison. According to this website, Abolqasem Salavati, the head of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, issued the order for Ms. Afshar's release with a bail of 500 million tomans. This website had reported on Saturday, March 17, that Nazak Afshar was arrested at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran upon her return to Iran. Meanwhile, Abbas Bakhtiari, director of the Pouya Cultural Center in Paris, reported in an interview with Radio Farda that Ms. Afshar 'fainted at the prison gate' during her transfer to Evin Prison. Mr. Bakhtiari stated in this interview that Ms. Afshar traveled to Iran due to her mother's illness, from which doctors have 'given up hope.' According to Mr. Bakhtiari, Ms. Afshar's mother intended to travel to France last year but her passport was confiscated and she was banned from leaving the country. Nazak Afshar, who holds dual Iranian-French citizenship, had previously been arrested in the summer of 2009 and was released after a few days through the efforts of the French government. She was briefly present in one of the mass trials of protesters against the results of the June 2009 presidential election, but not only was no indictment read against her, but no ruling was issued regarding her afterward. Three additional years of imprisonment for Rasoul Badaghi 'confirmed' The Teacher and Worker Rights website reported on Friday that despite the end of Rasoul Badaghi's six-year prison sentence, a new three-year prison sentence for this member of the board of directors of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association has been 'confirmed.' The Iranian Teachers' Trade Association had previously announced in a statement that Rasoul Badaghi had been sentenced to three years in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. The statement from the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association did not mention the reason for the new ruling against Mr. Badaghi. Rasoul Badaghi was arrested on September 1, 2009, after being summoned to the Education Department of Islamshahr and was sentenced to six years in prison and five years of deprivation from social activities by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. His six-year prison term was set to end in August 2015. Currently, in addition to Mr. Badaghi, several other teachers, including Alireza Hashemi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, and Ismail Abdi, are imprisoned. Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, spokesperson for the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, has been sentenced to nine years in prison, and Ismail Abdi, a teachers' rights activist, has been sentenced to six years in prison.