HRANA News Agency – Hamid Babai’s family had gone to visit him at Rajai Shahr prison, but they were told that Mr. Babai had been sent to solitary confinement and was not allowed to have visitors because of profanity. After continuous follow-up by the family, it was found out that this claim was not true and Mr. Babai had protested against the prison warden because he had avoided to send his complaint to the judge of his case and was arbitrary punished. Mr. Babbai has protested at Mohammad Mardani, head of prison, because of illegally preventing him from following the legal process of his case, and the warden took the advantage of his position out of prison procedures and regulations, and denied him having visitors and made his family worried about him, by false claims.

According to the report Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), a source close to Babai family told HRANA’s reporter:  “Hamid’s wife had gone from the city of Qazvin to visit him in Rajai Shahr prison in Kara, and she was told that Hamid was incommunicado because of profanity and he was in solitary confinement. She was told to go to the court to pursue the new case. His wife was worried and went there and she found from the law-enforcement office that he was not in the solitary confinement. By contacting the prosecution, she realized that he was not incommunicado, and there was nothing in that regard recorded in the system”.

The informed source continued: “Mr. Babai’s wife went back to the prison again and she was told again that they had an order from the prison warden that he was incommunicado. However it took several hours and then she insisted that she would not leave until she would find out what the issue was. Eventually they called Mr. Mardani and he told her, ‘Your husband has committed several offences and the Prison Council decided him to be incommunicado. We do not have time to explain this to you.’”

This source specified that: “In the evening, Hamid contacted his wife and explained that he had previously written a letter to the judge asking why he had been deprived of his legal rights for three and a half years. Mr. Mardani, contrary to the law, stopped this letter. A few months later, Hamid wrote another letter and also wrote Mr. Mardani and asked him ‘why don’t you send my letters to Mr. Salvati?’ He was summoned to Mr. Mardani’s office and he offensively talked with him. Hamid also had answered him and expressed his protest.”

Finally he added: “Hamid emphasized that incommunicado was used as a punishment and there was no new case against him, because he was not told anything in this regard and it was just a threatening.”

It is noteworthy that HRANA had reported earlier that Hamid Babai’s charges in a case, the verdict of which had been issued and approved by the appeals court, recently had been modified and according to the new charges, the Supreme Court rejected the request of retrial.

Mr. Babai is suffering from rupture of the eardrum, chronic and progressive infection and his medical leave is facing with the objection by the intelligence institutions.

Hamid Babai, a scholarship student at the University of Liege in Belgium, was summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence shortly after returning to Iran to visit family on August 13, 2013, and detained. In a short hearing, he was sentence to 6 years imprisonment and 4 years suspended imprisonment, by Judge Salavati, on charges of spying and communication with enemy states, the sentence was confirmed by branch 54 of the court of appeal.

Immediately after his arrest, he was transferred to solitary confinement in Evin Prison. Babai was held in the solitary confinement of ward 240 for 20 days and then was transferred to ward 209 and finally, after enduring 35 days in solitary confinement, he was transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison on 18th September, and then in early 2013 he was deported to Rajai Shahr prison.

He was exiled to Rajai Shahr prison after protesting against the conditions of ward eight, in early February, last year. He recently was transferred from ordinary prisoners’ ward in Rajai Shahr prison, to Hall 12, the ward of political prisoners.

Hamid Babaei, is married and was born on 11th December 1983 in the city of Takab, in West Azerbaijan province. He was graduated in mathematics from Sharif University in 2006, and the same year to follow a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering Science was accepted in Technology University of Iran. He managed to graduate with “A” grade in 2008 from that University and was recognized as a distinguished Alumnus at master’s degree.

The relatives of Hamid Babaei have said that he has not have any political activity during his stay abroad and only because of rejecting the request of Ministry of Intelligence upon cooperating with them, he has been arrested.

This imprisoned student has been denied to have a solicitor since his detention till now. According to him, the public defender, not only was not his defender, but also, he appeared in the role of his interrogator.

Detention and conviction of Hamid Babaei to imprisonment, has been facing massive student protests and human rights activists in Belgium. Amnesty International, the Students of Azad University in Brussels and resident Iranian of Belgium, during a protest in front of the Iranian embassy, ​​demanded the freedom of Hamid Babaei from the prison of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Earlier, two universities in Belgium, in a statement, called for the retrial and immediate release of this Iranian student of the University of Liege, Belgium.