The Court of Appeal in Qazvin has upheld a six-month sentence against Manoochehr Bakhtiari, a political prisoner currently held in Qazvin Prison.
Judge Habibollah Amiri issued this verdict on February 13, 2024, citing “insulting the Supreme Leader of Iran” as the grounds for the additional imprisonment.
The initial sentence was handed down by the Revolutionary Court of Qazvin on November 1, 2023.
Notably, as a punitive measure, Bakhtiari has been prohibited from making phone calls or receiving family visits since January 9.
Currently serving a three-year, six-month sentence in Qazvin Prison, Bakhtiari’s wife has raised concerns about his health, citing multiple ailments, and alleges that he is being denied access to medical treatment and furlough. She explained, “He endured a toothache for four months with infections spreading to his ears and eyes. Prison officials delayed his dispatch to a dentist every day until he had to extract his upper row teeth to alleviate the pain.”
Bakhtiari’s legal troubles began on April 29, 2021, when security forces forcibly arrested him at his residence in Tehran. Subsequently, the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to three years and six months in prison, along with a two-year, six-month exile and a two-year travel ban. Bakhtiari began serving this sentence in July 2021.
In a tragic and interconnected series of events, Bakhtiari’s son, Pouya, at the age of 27, was fatally shot by regime forces during the 2019 protests, also known as the Aban Protests, in Karaj. According to his sister and mother, Pouya succumbed to his injuries in the hospital after being shot in the head during the second day of the protest’s eruption.