HRANA – The prison sentence of Behfar Lalezari, a political prisoner held in Evin Prison, remained unchanged after the Supreme Court accepted his request for a retrial and referred the case to an equivalent branch. Branch 21 of the Tehran Court of Appeals has again sentenced him to five years in prison in its new ruling.
Based on information received by HRANA, after the Supreme Court accepted the retrial request, Branch 21 of the Tehran Court of Appeals, acting as an equivalent branch, reissued Mr. Lalezari’s previous five-year prison sentence.
A source close to the family of this political prisoner confirmed the news to HRANA and said: “This new ruling has been issued even though the judge of Branch 39 of the Supreme Court had declared in his opinion that no actual criminal act had taken place in this case. The individuals involved merely exchanged views and conversations opposing the political system. He emphasized that the appropriate charge in this case would only be ‘propaganda against the regime,’ punishable by three months to one year in prison. The charge of ‘assembly and collusion against national security’ was deemed unlawful.”
It should be noted that during the past year, two previous requests for retrial by this political prisoner had been rejected.
Mr. Lalezari had previously been sentenced by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, to four years in prison for “assembly and collusion against internal security” and one year for “propaganda against the regime,” totaling five years of imprisonment. The verdict was fully upheld by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals.
Behfar Lalezari was arrested by security forces at his private residence on September 18, 2023. After seven days in solitary confinement in the Security Police’s detention cells, he was transferred to Evin Prison.
This political prisoner, who suffers from multiple health problems, has so far submitted nine requests for medical furlough, all of which have been denied by prison authorities.
