Despite an official notification stating that political prisoner Mohammad Ashtiani Araki was due to be released on January 4, 2025, Iranian security and judicial authorities have blocked his release.
According to informed sources, the judge of Branch 2 of the Sentence Enforcement Office at District 12 Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran issued a letter stating that Ashtiani’s case has not yet been forwarded to the court for “clarification regarding his sentences,” and as a result, his release has been halted.
A source close to the prisoner reported that Mohammad Ashtiani has been incarcerated for over seven years—since 2018—in Karaj Central Prison and Tehran’s Great Prison, without being granted a single day of furlough.
Background on Mohammad Ashtiani
Mohammad Ashtiani, born in 1963, is married with two children. He is a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and a former political prisoner from the 1980s. In March 2018, while operating a printing business, he was arrested by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and transferred to an intelligence facility where he was subjected to interrogation and torture. He was later moved to Karaj Central Prison.
In 2019, Ashtiani was sentenced to three years in prison and a heavy financial penalty on charges of “propaganda against the regime,” “insulting the Supreme Leader,” and “supporting the MEK.” Now, despite serving more than seven years without any furlough, authorities are blocking his release through new case fabrications and deliberate delays in judicial proceedings.
On May 15, 2024, he was abruptly transferred from Ward 15 of Karaj Central Prison to Evin Prison. After some time, he was moved to Ward 8 of Evin Prison. On August 20, 2024, he was transferred once again—this time to Tehran’s Great Prison, where he remains imprisoned today.
