New statement from Student Reporting Committee on Human Rights

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi.

Student Blogger and political prisoner, Mojtaba Samii-nejad who is being detained at Ghezel-hesor prison in the Tehran suburb of Karadj has been prohibited from either receiving visitors or being granted medical furlough for the next 3 months. The 3-month-long penalty imposed as a result of Samii-nejad's complaints about the unsanitary conditions in prison. Samii-nejad, who at present is the only imprisoned blogger has been in prison since November of 2004. He was originally arrested and charged with apostasy but was cleared of all charges only to be rearrested and sentenced to 2 years on charges of insulting the authorities, agitating public opinion and publishing lies and falsehoods. A second charge has also been filed by the morality division of the public prosecutor for Samii-nejad to serve additional10 months on his present sentence. During the 17 months of his incarceration, he has never been granted medical furlough. READ MORE

Samii-nejad is the only political prisoner at the Ghezel-hesor prison who is being held in the criminal’s ward alongside murderers, rapists and violent felons. The exact and clear text of the law states that the accused must not be detained in a ward where there is any assumption of the occurrence of a crime and prisoners must be incarcerated in wards that are conditional to the charges against them. The Islamic regime is therefore in clear violation of legal principles.