Political prisoner Ali Moezzi has been held in solitary confinement for three months and under ongoing interrogations and inhuman conditions despite the fact that he has completed his prison sentence. However, Iranian officials refuse to release him and he is considered the target of newly fabricated charges.
The agricultural engineer is a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and father of two PMOI members.
He has endured time behind bars as a political prisoner back in the 1980s and was last arrested in 2011.
Moezzi was sentenced to four years for supporting the PMOI and was set to be released in April 2015 before authorities launched a new fabricated case against him. As a result, he was sentenced to an extra year in prison in December 2015 in absentia by branch 15 of the revolutionary court.
He suffers from various illnesses such as cancer and serious kidney problems. His health condition has worsened due to ongoing pressures. Prison authorities are refusing to transfer Moezzi to a public ward despite his interrogation coming to an end.
Social media campaigns are being launched under the hashtag #SaveAliMoezzi. His daughters also called on Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Raad Al-Hossein to intervene and save their ailing father.
According to the NCRI website, the authorities have told Mr Moezzi on several occasions that they intend to bring new bogus charges against him to prevent his release after the end of his sentence. Agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have told him that they would torture him to death and would not allow him to be released from prison alive.
There is reason to believe Moezzi faces imminent threat.
In a public plea in 2015, one of Moezzi’s daughters, Hejrat, detailed her father’s persistent harassment and the slew of charges being brought against him:
“Over the last seven years, my father has been charged not once, but four times. Each time, he has refused his participation in the trials citing their lack of legitimacy and due process. Each time, henchmen beat him and forced him to court. Disregarding the fact that he was near the end of his term, they sentenced him to an additional year of prison. The charges are ongoing… Due to my father’s resistance and bravery, these courts will likely still arbitrarily prolong his sentence…In May 2015, a group of thugs beat him so hard against an iron railing that his forehead split.”
