The judiciary of the Iranian regime has started the trial of seven political prisoners on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), armed uprising against the regime, and conspiracy against the regime’s security in collaboration with the PMOI.
The political prisoners, Abolhassan Montazer, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani-Amerian, Babak Alipour, Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar, Mohammad Taghavi, and Mojtaba Taghavi, have been subjected to months of torture in Evin Prison. The trial is being held at Branch 26 of Tehran’s so-called Revolutionary Court, presided over by the criminal judge Iman Afshari.
Abolhassan Montazer, 65, suffers from heart, lung, kidney diseases, and arthritis. He was a political prisoner in the 1980s. He was also arrested and imprisoned several times in 2018 and 2020. He was last arrested in January 2024.
Pouya Ghobadi, 32, an electrical engineer, was arrested in March 2024 at the Chaldoran border and transferred to Evin. He had been arrested twice before.
Vahid Bani-Amerian, 32, was arrested in January 2024. Since 2017, he has spent a total of four years in prison over several arrests.
Babak Alipour, 33, a law graduate, was arrested in January 2024. Previously, he was arrested in November 2018 in Rasht and spent four years in prison.
Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar, 58, a civil engineer, was arrested in January 2024.
Mohammad Taghavi, 58, was a political prisoner in the 1980s and 1990s. He was arrested in 2020 and spent three years in prison on charges of being associated with the PMOI. He was forcibly brought to court directly from Evin’s Ward 209 but refused to participate in the session. He has been on hunger strike for a month, protesting the pressure and torture in solitary confinement, as well as against a guard holding a knife to the throat of a helpless Afghan prisoner.
Mojtaba Taghavi, who has been in prison since March 2024, was arrested solely for being Mohammad younger brother.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, other relevant UN bodies, the European Union, and member states to take urgent action to save the lives of political prisoners who are being tried on rebellion charges and face execution, as well as to free all political prisoners. The NCRI called for an international fact-finding mission to visit Iranian prisons and meet with prisoners.
The regime has ratcheted up pressure on political prisoners in recent months. In September, the regime sentenced PMOI supporters Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani to death by the same judge and branch of the Revolutionary Court. Ehsani and Hassani were charged with “baghi (rebellion), moharebeh (waging war against God), corruption on Earth, membership in the PMOI, collecting classified information, and conspiracy against national security.”
Executions of prisoners have continued relentlessly. Thirty #executions were carried out on October 1 and 2 alone. Since August, when Pezeshkian took office, at least 255 prisoners have been executed.
As long as the clerical regime remains in power, neither torture and executions…— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 6, 2024
The wave of repressive measures against political prisoners comes against the backdrop of a spike in executions in Iran. Since the regime appointed Massoud Pezeshkian as its president in July, there have been more than 250 executions in Iran. Pezeshkian, who has been touted as a reformist by regime apologists and proponents of the appeasement policy toward Tehran, has proven that human rights condition will only worsen under his presidency.