Report on Mass Release of Prisoners in the Past 24 Hours

The mass releases of prisoners continued in the past 24 hours, as several prisoners of conscience were released from different prisons across the country.

Of these freed prisoners, the most known prisoners are:

  1. Documentary filmmaker Mojgan Ilanlu from Evin Prison
  2. Nazanin Mohammadnejad, a student at Allameh Tabataba’i University, from Evin Prison
  3. Political prisoner Bahareh Soleimani from Evin Prison
  4. Journalist Mehrnoosh Zarei Hanzaki from Evin Prison
  5. Civil rights activist Monireh Arabshahi from Kachooie Prison
  6. Civil rights activist Yasaman Aryani from Kachooie Prison
  7. Soheil Yadollahi from Bojnurd Prison
  8. Saeed Allahverdi, arrested at recent protests, from Adel-Abad Prison, Shiraz
  9. Political prisoner Reza Mohammad Hosseini from Rajai Shahr Prison
  10. Political prisoner Reza Khandan Mahabadi from Rajai Shahr Prison
  11. Political prisoner Peyman Pourdad from Rajai Shahr Prison
  12. Political prisoner Mohammad Turkmani from Rajai Shahr Prison
  13. Akbar Azadifar, arrested at recent protests, from Kuhdasht Prison
  14. Beniamin Moghaddasi, a student at the University of Tehran

Moreover, following the approval to “pardon and commute” the sentence of some prisoners, the legal cases against Hadi Sepehri, arrested at recent protests, Mojtaba Esmaili (Nima), a member of the Society of Students Against Poverty, and Anis Mohammadi were closed.

Also, Baha’i citizens Soroush Agahi, Peyman Ma’anavi, Parvan Ma’anavi, Jamileh Pakroo, Elham Salmanzadeh, Kianoosh Salmanzadeh, Neda Shabani and Payam Shabani, who were serving their sentences outside the prison with electronic tags, were set free and the restrictions were removed.

Details of these prison releases are still unknown. They are, however, likely released under recent approval to “pardon and commute” the sentence of some prisoners.

Earlier, the head of the Judiciary proposed to pardon or commute the sentences of some prisoners as an enactment of Article 110, paragraph 11 of the constitution, which was approved by Ali Khamenei under some conditions which the legal case should meet. Judicial authorities have not yet provided statistics about the number of pardoned prisoners.

Seven Political Activists Sentenced to Total of 53 Years in Prison

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, political activists Nahid Taghavi, Mehran Raouf, Somayeh Kargar, Bahareh Soleimani, and Nazanin Mohammadnejad were sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison.

The other two defendants of the case, Nafiseh Malekijoo, and Mohammad Hajinia, were also sentenced in absentia. Ms. Malekijoo was sentenced to 6 years and nine months, and Mr. Hajiniya was sentenced to 8 years and eight months imprisonment.

Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided by Judge Iman Afshari, has sentenced the seven defendants to a total of 53 years and five months in prison on charges of “participating and administrating the Communist Party of Iran with the intention to disrupt security”, and “propaganda activities against the regime”.

Nafiseh Malekijoo and Mohammad Hajinia are currently living abroad. As of this writing, the status of the case of Elham Samimi, the eighth defendant of the case, is unknown.

The first session of the court hearing for these activists was held on April 28, and the second session was held on June 13.