Iran: Conviction of MEK Supporters and Families to Long Prison Terms and Depriving MEK Sympathizers of Medical Treatment
NCRI
Written by
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
NCRI logoThe mullahs’ regime’s judiciary has sentenced political prisoners Zahra Safaei, 61, along with her daughter and son, Parastoo Moeini, 23, and Mohammad Masoud Moeini, 24, as well as Kamran Rezaei-Far, 58, each to five years in prison. The regime’s judiciary cited private conversations, activities on social networks, collaboration and communication with the MEK, undermining national security, and participating in activities against the system as reasons for these sentences, relying on the reports of the Intelligence Ministry, the deductions of the interrogator, and the persuasion of the judge.
Zahra Safaei served 8 years in prison for being a supporter of the MEK in the 1980s. Her father, Haj Hassan Ali Safaei, a well-known Tehran Bazaar merchant and political prisoner during the Shah’s reign, was executed by the mullahs’ regime in 1981 for helping the MEK. Zahra Safaei was arrested for the second time in March 2020 along with Parastoo Moeini, and they were released in February 2023.
Kamran Rezaei-Far was arrested in January 2020 on charges of connection with the MEK, released on heavy bail, and re-arrested in June 2020. In September 2021, he was sentenced to death.
Additionally, this morning on December 2, political prisoner Maysam Dehbanzadeh was transferred to Evin Prison to serve his sentence. He was sentenced to six years in prison, a prohibition of residence in Tehran and neighboring provinces, and a ban on leaving the country on charges of “assembly and conspiracy with the intent to commit a crime against national security” through communication with the MEK organization.
On the other hand, the physical condition of some political prisoners, including Assadollah Hadi, Mir Yousef Younesi, and Ali Mo’ezi, has been reported as critical. Ali Mo’ezi, a 70-year-old MEK supporter, who has been imprisoned for a total of 15 years since the 1980s, is currently suffering from severe arthritis, severe hydronephrosis, and high blood pressure but has no access to essential medical facilities. Before his latest arrest in October 2022, he underwent prostate cancer surgery and was recovering.
Assadollah Hadi, 66, who has been imprisoned for supporting the MEK in the 1980s, 2000s, and 2010s, was arrested and sent to Evin prison in October 2022. He suffers from heart and vascular diseases, brain problems, and spinal column issues, but he is deprived of necessary medical care. Although an “inability to endure punishment” sentence has been issued for him, the mullahs’ intelligence service prevents his release.
Mir Yousef Younesi, a 70-year-old political prisoner from the 1980s, who was arrested in January 2023, is suffering from ear and abdominal diseases but has no access to medical facilities. He has spent 3 years in Shah’s prisons and 9 years in the 1980s. His son, Ali Younesi, an elite student at Sharif University of Technology, has been imprisoned in Evin for the past 33 months.
The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations and member countries to take urgent action for the release of political prisoners and emphasizes the necessity of an international fact-finding mission to visit Iran’s prisons and meet with prisoners, especially political prisoners.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
December 2, 2023