Student Activist Kaveh Rezaei Shirazi Called to Serve Prison Sentence

Activist Kaveh Rezaei Shirazi has been summoned to turn himself in for the commencement of his 1.5 year sentence in a case in which Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence filed charges against him. Rezaei Shirazi is an activist with the One Million Signatures Campaign and an expelled student of Hamadan Bou Ali Sina University. In a written notice from Karaj’s Hashtgerd Courts, he has been ordered to turn himself in by Monday, April 26, 2010.

Rezaei Shirazi’s charges are “actions against national security through propagation against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” for which he received a six-months prison sentence, and “insulting the founder of Islamic Republic of Iran,” for which he received a one-year prison sentence. He was informed of his charges at Karaj Revolutionary Courts according to Articles 500 and 514 of Islamic Penal Code. The initial court’s ruling was upheld in Branch 24 of Tehran Appeals Court.

The court’s ruling sited as “supporting evidence” of the above charges, Rezaei Shirazi’s believing in feminism, activities in the field of human rights, and membership in organizations such as Hamadan Islamic Students Association and the One Million Signatures Campaign, and cooperation with Hamadan University Students News Bulletin, Bou Hali Sina Bulletin, and publishing some articles on Amir Kabir News Bulletin Web site. During the 2009 presidential elections, he was a student campaigner for Mehdi Karroubi and on the editorial board of “Haami-e Tagheer” (Supporter of Change), the student publication of Karroubi’s campaign.

Kaveh Rezaei Shirazi was expelled from Hamadan University. In 2008, after repeated contacts by Ministry of Intelligence, he appeared at Hashtgerd office of the Ministry near Karaj, where he was arrested and released after 9 days’ detention on a $53,000 bail.