In continuation of its campaign of repression against dissidents, Iran’s regime has sentenced 27-year-old Mohammad Hassani to 12 years in prison. The regime’s judiciary has charged Hassani with disturbing public order, destroying public property, propaganda against the system, insulting regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).
A master’s student, Hassani was first arrested and jailed in 2020. He was initially sentenced to three years in prison, but the regime’s criminal judge in Karaj, Mousa Asef Al-Hosseini, extended the sentence to 12 years because Hassani refused to collaborate with the regime’s intelligence ministry. It is worth noting that Asef Al-Hosseini was the same judge who sentenced dissidents Seyed Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mehdi Karami to death. Both were arrested during the 2022 nationwide protests.
At the same time, the regime continues to torture political prisoners by denying them their basic needs. One example is 65-year-old Ebrahim Khalil Sediqi Hamedani, a political prisoner and supporter of the PMOI in Khoy prison who is suffering from severe diabetes. The life and health of Sediqi Hamedani are in danger because regime authorities are denying him medications and treatment. His condition has worsened since February 24 to the extent that several of his toes and fingers had to be amputated.
The regime’s security forces in Urmia arrested Ebrahim and his two children, Salar and Maryam, in March 2019. Maryam was later released on a heavy bail. But the regime kept Ebrahim and Salar in prison and later sentenced them to 19 years in jail and a 2.5-billion-rial fine. They have been charged with membership in the PMOI, propaganda against the regime, and recording footage of the regime’s military compounds.
Another example is Marzieh Farsi, a political prisoner in Evin who is suffering from cancer. Prison authorities have deprived Farsi from access to medication or even the medications that her family have purchased for her. Farsi, 58, was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison by the regime’s judiciary for supporting the PMOI. Her brother, PMOI member Hassan Farsi, was executed in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.
Zahra Safaei is another prisoner who needs special medical care due to high blood pressure. But regime authorities are denying her medica care. She had previously undergone surgery, with two stents inserted in her heart. Safaei was recently sentenced to five years in prison for supporting the PMOI.
The regime has ratcheted up repressive measures and executions in recent months. In January alone, the regime carried out 88 executions to spread terror in public. The regime has been especially harsh against the PMOI as it fears the growing support for the Iranian opposition inside Iran. The regime has ratcheted up these efforts ahead of its sham parliamentary elections as it fears the activities of the opposition.
However, despite the regime’s efforts, Resistance Units, the PMOI’s network of activists inside Iran, has been expanding its ranks and activities across the country, which is testament to the regime’s failure in suppressing the spirit of resistance and freedom in Iran.
