HRANA News Agency – The short silent video shows Omid Alishenas, who has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment because of his peaceful civil activities, behind the glass at the visiting room in Evin prison. He has been denied to have a close visit with his family during the last four months and his contact with his family was limited to only cabinet visit.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), after more than eleven months of this civil activist’s detention and the peaceful nature of his activities, judicial authorities continue to release him on the bail.
Simin Eyvaz-zadeh, Omid Alishenas’s mother, told HRANA’s reporter: “We have repeatedly asked for changing the detention to a bail, at the court stage they said the prosecutor should do that, and now while the case is in the appeal stage, they say that primitive court should do that and so on, and they have held Omid in detention completely illegally.”
She added; “Evin prison authorities have told that for close visits, the prisoner has to wear prison uniform, known as barbed wire, and as Omid refuses to wear that, so during the last 4 months he has been deprived of close visit.”
Omid Ali Shenas was arrested on 4^th September, and was transferred to ward 2A of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and although a bail of 100 million Tomans was requested, the primitive court and previously, the prosecutor refused to accept the bail for unknown reasons, and according to his mother; still one of their claims is that they are not going to agree with the bail until his verdict is finalized.
Due to his peaceful civil activities he has been charged with propaganda against the regime, gathering and collusion against national security, and insulting the leadership and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. His trial was held along with three other civil activists, in less than fifteen minutes, by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Moghiseh, and they were sentenced to a total of 38 years imprisonment.
According to the verdict, virtual activities and publishing critical articles about the human rights situation and executions in Iran, solidarity with the families of political prisoners and families of death row prisoners, participating in a rally in defense of Kobani, sympathy with the families of victims in 2009 and holding contact with human rights activists, are the evidences that this civil activist has been charged for.
According to HRANA’s legal advisers, judgments issued against this civil activists that the images were released by HRANA, contains egregious errors of law that in the event of a serious and thorough investigation, the chance of a change in the sentence by the Court of Appeal will high. Omid Alishenas, is now in the twelfth month of his temporary detention in ward 8 of Evin prison awaiting the outcome of the appeal.