Iran bans 3 political prisoners from family visits after protest
Iranian authorities have banned three political prisoners from receiving family visits after they joined fellow inmates at Evin Prison in protesting the country’s rising execution rate.
Taher Naghavi, a lawyer, Abolfazl Ghadyani, an 80-year-old activist, and Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent reformist, were barred from three visiting sessions by the prison disciplinary committee, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, News.Az reports citing Iranian media.
The decision came after political prisoners at Evin staged a gathering inside the detention center to protest Iran’s execution wave in recent days.
Two other political prisoners, Reza Khandan and Shahryar Barati, were previously banned from visits.
Naghavi was arrested on February 6, 2024, and transferred to Evin Prison. In October 2024, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment, a two-year travel ban and two years’ deprivation of social rights.
Branch 36 of the Tehran Province Appeals Court upheld the sentence in December 2024.
In October 2024, Branch 6 of the Judicial Disciplinary Court for Lawyers, Experts and Family Counselors suspended Naghavi’s law license.
Ghadyani was arrested on September 30, 2024, in Tehran to serve a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence. He was initially transferred to Ward 6 of Evin Prison.
Charges against the 80-year-old activist include “insulting the Supreme Leader and propaganda against the system.” He faces multiple court cases.
Tajzadeh, a well-known reformist political activist, was arrested on July 8, 2022, and transferred to the Revolutionary Guard intelligence detention center known as Ward 2A in Evin Prison.
In October 2022, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under Judge Abolghasem Salvati convicted him of “assembly and collusion against national security, spreading lies and propaganda against the system,” sentencing him to eight years in prison.
In December 2023, the same court sentenced Tajzadeh to six additional years in a separate case.
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