HRANA – Soheil Arabi has been sentenced by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court to five years in prison and a two-year ban on employment involving social media activities.
According to HRANA, Soheil Arabi has been sentenced to imprisonment.
Based on a ruling issued on August 16 by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, Arabi was sentenced to five years of discretionary imprisonment, with time previously served in detention credited toward his sentence, on the charge of “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit a crime against national security,” with the court taking into account provisions concerning repeat offenses. As a supplementary punishment, the court also barred him for two years from “engaging in a specific occupation, profession, or work related to the committed offense (social media activity).”
In part of the ruling, the court cited Arabi’s communications with individuals outside Iran, the contents of the case file, images documenting his social media activities, and reports by judicial officers among the evidence supporting the verdict.
A hearing on the charges against Arabi was held before the same branch on August 10. During the hearing, reports from a security agency, content he had published on social media, and his assistance to several people detained during the January protests were among the matters raised in the case. In his defense, Arabi stated that his support activities were not limited to prisoners or protesters, noting that of more than 200 families covered by the support network, over 100 had no history of arrest or political activity.
In March, Arabi was arrested by security forces and transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj. He was released from the prison this spring.
Soheil Arabi has previously faced arrest and judicial proceedings in connection with his activities.
Arabi is a blogger and citizen journalist who received the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize in 2017. He has previously faced multiple prosecutions and convictions. In 2014, Branch 76 of the Tehran Province Criminal Court sentenced him to death on the charge of “insulting the Prophet of Islam” on Facebook. The death sentence was later overturned and replaced with other punishments.
More recently, Arabi wrote a letter describing detention conditions in Suite 35 of Unit 3 at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.
