Behnam Ebrahimzadeh Begins the 7th Year in the Prison

HRANA News Agency – June 11 was the anniversary of the arrest of Behnam (Asad) Ebrahimzadeh, imprisoned labor activist in Rajai Shahr prison and he has begun his seventh year in prison. His initial verdict has ended long ago and he is now serving a sentence to which he was sentenced in the prison.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), while Behnam Ebrahimzadeh’s sentence of 5 years was finished on August 1, 2015, Tehran Appeals Court sentenced him to 7 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison and 4our hundred and fifty thousand Tomans, by reducing the sentence of nine years and 6 months in prison. He is charged with “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against internal and external security” and propaganda against the regime.

The verdict has been issued due to his activities while serving his 5-year prison sentence.

In addition, the charges of “violation of detention order” and “use of satellite equipment and game cards” were also part of the charges against the jailed worker. All of these charges were applied while he was in prison.

One of HRANA’s legal advisers, in this regard, had earlier said: “While it is impossible to prove the acting against national security from inside the prison, however according to the new Islamic Penal Code which was valid when this verdict was issued, to all of these charges the charge should not be more than 5 years imprisonment, and this sentence is against the law.”

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, labor activist born in 1977, for the first time was detained in 2008 on charge of graffiti and propaganda in Oshnavieh.

Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was arrested for the second time in 2009 at the eve of International Workers’ Day, along with a group of civil activists in Laleh Park in Tehran and was released on the bail after a month.

For the third time he was arrested on May 23, 2010. He was for 4 months in solitary confinement in Evin prison and was interrogated under pressure, after his arrest, and then he was transferred to ward 350 of Evin Prison.

Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Salvati, in a short trial, without presence of a lawyer sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment, the sentence that was reduced on appeal to five years.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was beaten during the attack to ward 350 of Evin prison by prison guards, known as “Black Thursday”, and was transferred to solitary confinement in ward 240 for 15 days.

The labor activist was transferred to solitary confinement in Ward 209 in May, and later he was illegally exiled to Rajai Shahr prison, in Karaj.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh suffers from a slipped disc and arthritis of the neck and despite follow-ups, so far he has not received proper treatment in the prison or hospital. His son, Nima has cancer and his family have said that due to his illness, the difficulty of traveling and financial restrictions they were not able to have weekly visits with him.

Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was repeatedly harassed in Rajai Shahr prison and transferred to several wards, and is serving his imprisonment now in ward 2 of Rajai Shahr prison known as Daralqran without observance of the principle of separation of crimes.

It is worth noting, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh is the only political prisoner in this ward.

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