Oliaifar’s Wife: “My Husband’s Verdict Was Not Served So He Can’t Appeal,”

Shohreh Taghati, wife of imprisoned lawyer Mohammad Oliaifar, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that her husband’s one year sentence for interviewing with foreign media is not open to appeal. “My husband has been in prison for almost five months now, charged with ‘propagating against the regime through interviewing with foreign media.’ His telephone contacts from inside the prison are quite infrequent now. We do not accept these accusations. There has been no propagating against the regime. After my husband’s interviews about executions of children under the age of 18, especially about Behnoud Shojaee, suits were filed against him and a case file was fabricated. He had only provided his professional opinions and recommendations regarding his field of expertise. This was for research and academic purposes, and he was trying to ensure trials which are appropriate for the children of our nation,” said Oliaifar’s wife.

Lawyer Mohammad Oliaifar, a former head of the Research and Education Unit of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, was arrested on 8 March 2010, following his summons to the Revolutionary Courts. He was sentenced to one year in prison on the charge of “propagating against the regime through interviewing with foreign media,” and “insulting the Iranian Judiciary.” Prior to that and following Oliaifar’s objection to the execution of Behnoud Shojaee and other child offenders, on 7 February 2010, he had been sentenced to one year in prison for “propagating against the regime” by the Revolutionary Courts.

Expressing outrage with obvious shortcomings in due process in her husband’s case, Shohreh Taghati said: “My husband’s verdict was never served to him, and as a result, his case cannot be appealed now.” Taghati asked the Iranian judicial authorities to show more flexibility in reviewing similar cases.