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Iranian Activists: Courts Confirm Long Prison Terms for 2 Dissidents

by Michael Lipin

   Iranian activist groups say courts have confirmed long prison terms for
   two dissidents, one a former political prisoner and the other an ethnic
   Kurdish teacher.

   In the first case, Iran's Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA)
   published a [1]Wednesday report saying a Revolutionary Court in the
   northern city of Sari confirmed a 10-year prison term for the former
   political prisoner, Kavoos Kiani. Iran previously jailed him for three
   years in the 1980s for membership in a banned organization.

   HRANA said Iranian authorities arrested Kiani again this February in
   the northern city of Fereydunkenar for running a channel on the popular
   messaging app Telegram. It said he was charged with disturbing national
   security and public opinion and jailed for 27 days in the nearby city
   of Babol, before being released on bail.

   HRANA said a court in Fereydunkenar later sentenced Kiani to 10 years
   in prison, a term that it said was upheld by the higher court in Sari
   in recent days. It said authorities denied Kiani access to a lawyer
   during the proceedings. There was no word on whether he had returned to
   prison to begin the new sentence.

   In the other case, a Sunni Islamist political group published a
   [2]Tuesday report saying an appeal court in the northwestern city of
   Urmia confirmed an 18-month prison term for one of its members, Iranian
   Kurdish teacher Bakhtiar Arefi. The Call to Islam and Reform
   Organization, also known as Islah and Dawah, said Arefi had been
   charged with membership in an unauthorized group and began serving the
   sentence Tuesday at a prison in the northwestern city of Mahabad.

   Call to Islam and Reform is not registered as a political party in Iran
   but seeks to reform its government. Iran's Shiite Islamist rulers
   tightly regulate political activity and ban groups they view as trying
   to undermine them.

   Call to Islam and Reform said Iranian authorities initially arrested
   Arefi, from the city of Sardasht in northwestern Iran's West Azerbaijan
   province, in 2014. It said he was released on bail after one month in
   detention and remained free pending an appeal of a three-year sentence
   imposed by a provincial court. The group said the appeals court in
   Urmia confirmed a prison sentence but reduced the term to 18 months.

   Call to Islam and Reform said it hopes Arefi, whom it described as a
   caring educator with years of honest service, will be released from
   prison as soon as possible.

   This report was produced in collaboration with [3]VOA's Persian
   Service.

   Michael covers international news for VOA on the web, radio and TV,
   specializing in the Middle East and East Asia Pacific. Follow him on
   Twitter [4]@Michael_Lipin

References

   1. https://www.hra-news.org/2018/hranews/a-16279/
   2. http://islahweb.org/content/2018/7/21127/%C2%AB%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%81%DB%8C%C2%BB-%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%AD%DA%A9%D9%85-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%87%DB%8C-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D8%B4%D8%AF
   3. https://ir.voanews.com/
   4. https://twitter.com/Michael_Lipin