Iranian activist Mostafa Tajzadeh, one of the figures of the reform camp, detained since July for undermining state security, was sentenced to five years in prison, his lawyer announced on Tuesday evening, October 11.
Arrested on July 8 at his home in Tehran, Mostafa Tajzadeh, 65, regularly criticizes the power in the media, calling on the authorities to make “structural changesand democratic within the Islamic Republic.
“Reform Citizen”
“My client Mostafa Tajzadeh was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy against security, two years for publishing lies and one year for propaganda against the system“said Me Houshang Pourbabaï on his Twitter account. He clarified that of this total of eight years in prison, five years are enforceable under the law on mixed sentences. The court decision “is final and effective“, added Me Pourbabaï, his client having not appealed.
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Former Deputy Minister of the Interior under the presidency of the reformer Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), Mostafa Tajzadeh had tried to present himself as a “reform citizen», «political prisoner for seven years“, in the presidential election of 2021. His candidacy had been rejected and the election won by the ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raïssi. He also denounced thediscrimination“, the “internet blocking», «military interference in politics, economy and elections“, as well as a “costly foreign policy, anti-Americanism and pro-Russian (diplomacy)“.
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House arrest
Mostafa Tajzadeh’s trial opened on August 13 in a revolutionary court but he refused to defend himself during the hearing, after his request to speak one-on-one with his lawyer was rejected, according to his defense . Mostafa Tajzadeh’s wife, Fakhrossadat Mohtachamipour, also a reform activist, confirmed the sentence on Twitter, regretting that her husband is “still in isolation, despite his illness“.
Mostafa Tajzadeh was arrested in 2009 after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election as president of Iran, contested by an opposition gathered around unsuccessful reform candidates Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi.
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After his release in 2016, he regularly called for the release of Mostafa Karoubi and Hossein Moussavi, who had been under house arrest for nearly twelve years. In August, the main coalition of the reform camp in Iran called on the Judiciary to release Mostafa Tajzadeh, saying he hadsimply expressing their opinions and analyzes“.