HRANA News Agency – Hossein Alimohammadi Alvar, political prisoner, after eight months of detention, is still waiting for judicial proceedings by the Court of Appeal regarding his 10 years imprisonment sentence which has been issued by the Revolutionary Court in Tabriz. He has been deprived of medical appropriate care and treatment despite his eye diseases, in Tabriz prison.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), he is currently being held in the ward of prisoners of common crimes and sometimes dangerous criminals, in Tabriz prison and his efforts to be transferred to the political prisoners’ ward has been ineffective.
Hossein Alimohammadi Alvar, along with Seyed Taha Kermani was arrested by the security guards in Tabriz, on 4^th November 2013, and after nearly 6 months of detention, was released on the bail, from Tabriz Central Prison. Hamid Bagherpour, head of the Branch 3 of Tabriz Revolutionary Court, convicted these two civil activists, in primitive stage, to 10 years imprisonment on charges of “insulting religious sanctities” and “setting fire on public funds with the aim of opposing Islamic Republic”.
These two civil activists, earlier had been charged with propaganda against the regime and insulting the leadership, due to materials published in the journal called “Susma” and blog “Susozgool”, which was active in environmental issues that was connected to the Lake of Urmia’s crisis, by the third Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tabriz and were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and it was upheld precisely by the Court of Appeal.
These activists will have a trial by the Branch 7 of the Court of Appeal in East Azerbaijan province, for their current cases, but the date has not been determined, yet.
Earlier this branch returned the case to branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court due to “procedural error” in the issued verdict.
Each of these two activists has been sentenced to a total of 13 years imprisonment, while the court documents which were used as evidences for the conviction were based on their confessions during their interrogation, and the court found them guilty because their evidences do not reject the report of Tabriz Intelligence Office.
However, Kermani and Ali Mohammadi Alvar both rejected accusations in the court hearing, giving evidences about psychological and physical tortures in Intelligence Office solitary confinement, during their interrogations, demanding judicial investigation on the detention centres conditions and interrogation procedures by that office.
Hossein Alimohammadi Alvar, is waiting for the trial by the court of appeal for the sentence of 10 years imprisonment, while for the sentence of 3 years on charges of propaganda against the regime and insulting the leadership he is held in ward 12 of Tabriz Central Prison.
Hossein Alimohmdi Alvar is suffering from eye problems on the cornea of ​​his eye, must use UV glasses and eye drops. He had asked for medications from outside the prison, but after several weeks, prison authorities with obstruction, rejected his request.
In July 2014, Amnesty International issued a statement expressing concern that the sentence of 10 years imprisonment for Hossein Alimohammadi Alvar and Seyed Taha Kermani was “unjustified” and has been issued on the basis of “political purposes” and “confessions extracted under torture”. The statement says: “Both activists were held in solitary confinement without access to lawyers, for 42 days.”
Earlier in the summer of 2013, Hosseinh Alimohammadi Alvar had been arrested by the security forces during the football match between Tractor Sazi of Tabriz and Malavan of Bandar Anzali, and after a day of detention he was released on the bail. At that time the security officers had beaten Hossein Alimohammadi Alvar when they were arresting him in Yadegar-e-Emam Stadium, in Tabriz.