Jailed civil rights activist Barzan Mohammadi has told IranWire that Revolutionary Guards intelligence agents beat him during interrogations and after he refused to sign an apology. Mohammadi sent IranWire an audio file detailing the abuse.
In the {{ __192219_videocomponent__video component__ }}">clip,Mohammadi, who is being held in Marivan Prison, said he was arrested on Monday, June 7, 2021 after returning home to the village of Goujkhani, in Iranian Kurdistan's Sarvabad county.
The activist said he was arrested by four armed plainclothes agents, blindfolded, threatened and then transferred to the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Department for the county.
He said agents beat him because of his online activism and said they pressured him to sign a prepared letter of apology, but he refused. He said he told his interrogators: ”I do not regret any action I have taken."
According to multiple reports and testimonies, the Guards have an extensive record of forcing, or trying to force, inmates to confess or make offficial apologies.
After this show of defiance and refusal to cooperate with the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammadi said, he was tried in a prison court on June 23, where he was charged with “insulting the leader" and "propaganda against the regime.” Judge Rouzbeh Behboudi handed down a sentence totaling 22 months and 17 days in prison. Fifteen months and a day of the sentence were punishment for the insult charge, and a further seven months and 16 days were linked to the propaganda offense.
Mohammadi asserts that the sentences are unjust and baseless and a result of trumped-up charges.
Barzan Mohammadi was previously arrested for his online activism during the nationwide protests in August 2018 and was later sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to six years in prison. The sentence was reduced to three years and six months in prison on appeal.
The Kurdish civil rights activist had recently joined the "No to Islamic Republic" campaign and published a photograph of himself supporting the initiative.
Listen to the {{ __192219_videocomponent__video component__ }}">audio clip Barzan Mohammadi sent to IranWire
Related coverage:
Tortured and at Risk of Execution for Taking Part in 2018 Protest
Jailed Activist Reveals the Pressure Prisoners’ Families Face
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