Azerbaijani-Turk Activist Morteza Nourmohammadi Sentenced to Prison

Morteza Nourmohammadi Nadarli (also known as Nazarlu), an Azerbaijani-Turk activist, was sentenced to three months and one day in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Shabestar County.

Based on a recent verdict issued by the Revolutionary Court of Shabestar County and communicated to Nourmohammadi, he has been sentenced to three months and one day of imprisonment on charges of propaganda against the regime through publishing material online. This Azerbaijani-Turk activist was acquitted of other charges such as “membership in anti-regime groups” and “insulting the Supreme Leader.”

On May 28, Mr. Nourmohammadi was summoned for questioning via a phone call to the Shabestar Security Police.

Nourmohammadi was initially charged in early November last year by the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Shabestar with “assembly and collusion to act against national security.” Shortly thereafter, a new case was opened against him in the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office of Tabriz, charging him with “membership in a group aimed at acting against national security.”

On September 9, 2023, after visiting the Civil Registration Office in the city of Sofian, he was arrested by security forces and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility in Tabriz. He was eventually moved to the city’s prison and then returned to the detention center a few days later. He was once again transferred to Tabriz prison on November 26, 2023.

Nourmohammadi was finally released on bail on November 28 of the same year.

In 2023, the Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) recorded 329 reports, citing the arrest of 324 citizens linked to ethnic and national rights. Notably, 156 of these arrests occurred without the issuance of a judicial warrant.

Morteza Nourmohammadi Arrested in Shabestar

On September 9, Morteza Nourmohammadi, a resident of Shabestar in East Azerbaijan province, was apprehended by security forces and transported to the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention facility.

A source with close ties to his family informed HRANA that Nourmohammadi was detained on September 9, immediately following a visit to the National Organization for Civil Registration of Iran. Subsequent to his arrest, intelligence agents conducted a search of his residence and confiscated some of his personal belongings.

Previously, the National Organization for Civil Registration had declined to register a chosen name for his newborn child. It’s worth noting that the Iranian government restricts naming children in ways that deviate from the national cultural and religious norms.

The precise grounds for his detention, his current whereabouts, and the nature of the allegations against him remain undisclosed.