Imprisoned and Exiled Student Activist Transferred Back to Prison

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “starred student” Zia Nabavi’s, told the Campaign that his son has been transferred back to Karoon Prison in Ahvaz. “My son has been returned to Karoon Prizon. I talked to him on the phone today. He was well,” Seyed Ali Akbar Nabavi told the Campaign.

Asked whether Zia Nabavi was allowed furlough for the Iranian New Year, his father said, “they won’t give him leave.” In order to start his exile sentence, Nabavi was transferred from Evin Prison to Karoon Prison on 22 November 2010. In February of this year, Nabavi was abruptly moved from Karoon Prison to an unknown location. His family found out a month later that he had been transferred to the Intelligence Office of Ahvaz.

Zia Nabavi is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Noshirvani Industrial University in the city of Babol, who earned a top ranking in the Graduate Entrance Examination in sociology in 2008, but was banned from continuing his education. Nabavi is the spokesperson for the Right to Education Council and was arrested on 15 June 2009. A Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Pirabbasi, sentenced Nabavi to ten years in prison in exile at Karoon Prison.