CALL FOR THE LIFE OF POLITICAL PRISONER KAMRAN REZAEI-FAR IN IRAN

According to reliable reports, in late September 2021, the political prisoner Mr. Kamran Rezaei-far death sentence was sentenced to death in Iran. He was born in 1965 and is a mechanical repairman, married and has children. This primary ruling was issued by a so-called Judge Mohammad-Reza Amouzad at Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court.

The political prisoner was first arrested by the Iranian Regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) in January 2020 on charges of having connection with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and was transferred to Wards 240 and then 209 of Evin Prison (these wards are under the control of MOIS) for interrogation.

He was confined in solitary confinement for 77 days, deprived of the right to contact and to receive visits of his family, and was subjected to various forms of psychological torture by interrogators aiming to obtain forced confessions. In order to put more pressure on this political prisoner, they also arrested his wife and son and then released them later.

After his interrogation was over, Mr. Rezaei-far was released on a heavy bail from prison around May 2020. However, after about 25 days, in June 2020, he was suddenly called for interrogation and, without providing any explanation, was re-arrested and transferred to Evin Prison being charged with a heavier allegation: “committing corruption on earth”.

On Monday, December 28, 2020, he was transferred to Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, headed by Mohammad-Reza Amouzad, and was indicted with “Moharebeh” (“enmity with God”). At the same session, the head of the court threatened him with execution.

This political prisoner was repeatedly summoned to court, but the court sessions were cancelled each time on vague excuses. Finally, in late summer of 2021, Judge Amouzad issued his death sentence.

Mr. Kamran Rezaei-far suffers from cataracts in both his eyes, one of which was operated on, in January 2020.

The Italian Federation for Human Rights calls on international human rights institutions, especially Ms. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and other human rights organizations and activists to condemn and ask to revoke this arbitrary and unacceptable sentence.

The Italian Federation for Human Rights also calls on UN agencies and member states of the UN Human Rights Council to take appropriate international measures to exert effective pressure on the Iranian regime to release all political prisoners and abolish death sentences, particularly against human rights activists and political dissidents.