Two award-winning students, Amir Hossein Moradi and Ali Younesi received 16 years in prison, each in their preliminary trial.
The 29th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran convicted the two award-winning students at the prestigious Sharif University of Technology of “corruption on earth,” “assembly and collusion,” and “propaganda against the state.”
Mostafa Nili, a lawyer representing Ali Younesi, confirmed the sentences for the two elite students at Sharif University. He said, “Certainly, we will appeal for the heavy sentences issued.”
Ali Younesi’s brother, Reza, also verified the news. He said Tehran’s Revolutionary Court had informed the students’ lawyers of the verdict on April 25. The students were supposed to be released on bail, Reza Younesi indicated.
Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi have been detained in the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 of Evin since March 2020. Evin Prison authorities deprived them of meeting even with their lawyers.
The first trial hearing for the two award-winning students convened on July 3, 2021, after 450 days of “temporary detention” in solitary confinement.
The second round of trials of the two award-winning students took place on January 5, 2022. The case was returned to the Prosecutor’s Office upon the request of lawyer Mostafa Nili because of deficiencies in the dossier.
Most recently, the 29th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran convened on April 10, 2022.
Ali Younesi, a computer engineering student, won the silver medal in the 1995 Astronomy Olympiad and the gold medal in the 1996 Astronomy Olympiad. Amir Hossein Moradi, a physics student, won the silver medal in the National Astronomy Olympiad of 1996. The two award-winning students were brutalized and arrested on April 10, 2020.
Earlier, six Nobel laureates, including Professor Barry C. Barish, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017, and Professor Randy W. Schekman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2013, and 10 academic researchers wrote a joint letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling for the immediate release of Amir Hossein Moradi and Ali Younesi.
