HRANA – The prison sentence of Ata Karimi, an Azerbaijani-Turk activist, has been fully upheld by Branch 9 of the Supreme Court. He had previously been sentenced to two years in prison by Branch 3 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court.
Following the rejection of his request for appeal by Branch 9 of the Supreme Court, presided over by Judge Ghasem Mazinani, Karimi’s two-year sentence was confirmed without modification. In August, 2024, Branch 3 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court had sentenced this Azerbaijani-Turk activist to two years in prison.
Mr. Karimi was previously arrested by security forces in Urmia in June 2015 and was released about a week later.
Ata Karimi has also faced prior judicial actions due to his activism.
According to HRANA’s report, in 2024, 20 ethnic minority rights activists were sentenced to a total of 471 months (nearly 40 years) in prison. Over the past seven years, the total length of such prison sentences has reached 913 years.
