Iranian protesters arrested during the protests in November 2019 are being tried and handed down heavy jail sentences while the fate of thousands of others continue to remain unknown.
One of such protesters is Milad Arsanjani, 21. He was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in Iran protests in November 2019 against sudden three-fold increase in the price of fuel.
Branch 1 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted the young man of “assembly and collusion against the state.”
Another one of the Iranian protesters is Kianoush Jamali, 27, who was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.
Mr. Jamali was arrested on November 19, 2019, by the IRGC Sarallah Corps and detained between 25 to 30 days in solitary confinement. He is charged with “propaganda against the state”, “collusion and assembly against national security” and “insulting the leader and the president.” Mr. Jamali was informed of his verdict on February 4, in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary where he is presently detained.
Payam Derafshan, a lawyer, also announced that his 21-year-old client was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and 74 lashes by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court for participating in the November protests. He is accused of “disruption of public order” and “assembly and collusion against national security.”
In light of the fact that the young man is the only one taking care of his elderly mother, and due to lack of any previous criminal records, the court commuted his sentence to three months and suspended his flogging verdict on the condition that he studies and writes over for six months three books designated by the court.
The fate of thousands of protesters arrested during the protests in November, however, remains unknown. Their relatives fear they are killed because they have not received any information from Iranian authorities on their whereabouts and conditions.
The majority of those arrested in Tehran are reportedly being detained in the women’s prison of Qarchak and the Greater Tehran Penitentiary a.k.a. Fashafuyeh Prison.
Some of the detainees classified as “leaders” of the protests have been denied legal representation. In other cases, the bail amounts are set so high that the families do not afford to pay them.
Mohammad Javad Kolivand, member of Parliament from Karaj, asserted that the protests against fuel price hike took place in at least 719 parts of Iran on November 15, 2019.
Another MP, Seyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, announced on November 25, that the number of those arrested in recent protests was around 7,000.
IranHRM estimates from official, media and internal sources indicate that the number of those arrested is at least 12,000.
