Former Political Prisoner Transported from Workplace to Prison Without Summons

Former political prisoner Navid Kamran has been transported to Evin Prison in Tehran to begin serving a one-year prison sentence for “propaganda against the state” without a summons, an informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Kamran previously told the Campaign that he had been convicted on recycled charges.

“Navid was picked up by two court agents who showed up at his workplace at 11 a.m. on October 4, 2016 to execute the prison sentence,” added the source. “A few hours later, he called his family to say he had been taken to Evin Prison to start his sentence.”

According to the source, Kamran had initially been summoned to serve his sentence in June 2016, but his prison term was postponed after his lawyer requested an extension. Kamran’s sudden transfer to prison came as a surprise because he had not recieved a second summons.

In May 2015, Kamran, a 33-year-old former civil rights activist, was put on a mass trial along with former student activists Arash Sadeghi, his wife Golrokh Iraee, and Behnam Mousivand in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati. Kamran and Mousivand were sentenced to one year in prison while Sadeghi received a 15-year prison sentence and Iraee received a six-year prison sentence.

Sadeghi was also unexpectedly forced to begin serving his prison sentence without a summons in June 2016 when he went to Evin Prison to find out when his sentence would officially begin.

Kamran told the Campaign in in March 2016 that he had been convicted based on recycled charges: “They mostly pointed at my Facebook posts. But my Facebook page had been inactive for a long time and I was not posting anything there. They also said I had prepared and gathered signatures for a number of political statements. But all I did was sign statements about things like respecting the rights of political prisoners and calling for their freedom. They also criticized me for visiting the families of political prisoners, but in fact all I did was visit my friends when they got out of prison.”  

Kamran was previously arrested in 2009 for attending the peaceful protests against the widely disputed results of that year’s presidential election.

He was sentenced to 33 months in prison and 74 lashes by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Yahya Pirabbasi for “propaganda against the state,” “collusion against national security” and “disturbing public order.” He was released in 2011 after serving his prison term.