Three former political prisoners, who were rearrested last year, have been sentenced to a total of 23 years imprisonment, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported.
Citing an “informed source”, CHRI said that a Revolutionary Court judge sentenced Mohammad Banna Zadeh Amirkhizi to eleven years prison and two years banishment to the city of Nikshahr in Sisatan and Balouchestan, southeastern Iran.
Meanwhile, Majid Asadi has been sentenced to six years prison plus two years living in exile in city of Borazjan, in Bushehr province, south of Iran while Payam Shakiba was sentenced to six years prison.
The trio were charged with “propaganda against the ruling system” and “congregating and collusion intended for acting against national security”.
The verdicts were issued in the presence of an Intelligence Ministry’s expert who interfered in the procedure.
All three have the right to appeal.
Asadi, Amirkhizi and Shakiba were rearrested in February 2016 and they were tried last month.
Former students’ rights activist and university student, 35-year old Majid Asadi was first arrested after the 2009 protests against the controversial reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the Islamic Republic’s president. He served his four years behind bars and was released in 2015.
According to the report of the Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), Majid Asadi was rearrested in his house in Karaj on February 18, 2017.
A source close to Asadi family told HRANA’s reporter: “Security forces entered the house by force. As soon as they arrived, they beat up Majid’s father was and his leg was damaged badly. This is while Majid’s father is under treatment for lung cancer and just recently had been discharged from hospital.”
The source continued: “Majid Asadi was arrested along with confiscation of his personal belongings. No explanation of the charges against him has been given to him or his family.”
Thirty-year old former students’ rights activist, Payam Shakiba was also arrested in 2009 for his role in disclosing sexual abuse of a female student by an official at Zanjan’s university. He was finally sentenced to six years prison.
Mohammad Amirkhizi, 63, was also arrested in 2009 charged with having ties to the Mojahedin Khalq Organization, MKO. He was released in 2014, after spending five years behind bars.
Earlier, Amirkhizi’s wife and his brothers were also imprisoned who were later released. The family was charged with meeting Amirkhizi’s children in MKO’s camp Ashraf in Iraq.