Appellate Court Sentences Reza Eslami to Five Years in Prison

Reza Eslami, an Iranian-Canadian faculty member at Shahid Beheshti University, was recently sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Court of Appeals in Tehran.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court previously issued an initial verdict of seven years imprisonment and prohibition of teaching and leaving the country.

Eslami’s lawyer, Rasoul Koohpayeh, confirmed this sentence and told IRIP, “Despite the final verdict of five years imprisonment, there are still legal capacities for my client such as enforcing article 477, the request for retrial or request for parole. Also, given that he has been 18 months in detention, I will request for granting furlough.”

Mr. Eslami was indicted on the charges of “collaboration with adverse foreign countries (the U.S.A.) against the regime through participation in educational courses about the rule of law in the Czech Republic”.

The case for which Reza Eslami has been indicted, has 15 accused from whom 14 have been exonerated from the charge of ” collaboration with a hostile foreign country”.

On May 10, 2020, Reza Eslami was arrested by intelligence agents and transferred to a detention center known as Ward 209 of Evin Prison. After arrest, the agents inspected his office in the law faculty and confiscated his personal belongings like his cell phone and laptop. Recently, he was relocated to the public ward of Evin Prison after completing the interrogation process.

Reza Eslami is married and the father of two children, a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, a member of the faculty and law professor at Shahid Beheshti University. Eslami has published more than 70 essays on human rights in law journals in Iran and abroad. In addition, he has translated and authored more than 10 books about human rights.