Political prisoner Payam Shakiba has been denied access to proper medical treatment despite contracting Covid-19 at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
The activist was arrested on January 3, after apearing before the Implementation Unit of Evin Prison’s Court, and was transferred to the prison to start serving a 13-month prison sentence.
In September 2021, Shakiba was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Mian Afshari, to 13 months in prison, a two-year ban on leaving the country, two-year ban on membership in political groups and confiscation of his mobile phone and laptop.
The sentence was upheld by Branch 36 of the Tehran Appeals Court.
Payam Shakiba, a political science graduate student at Tehran’s Allameh Tabataba’i University, has previously been arrested and convicted for his peaceful activities.
The 34 year-old activist was arrested by security forces on February 22, 2017, and sentenced to six years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran in December that year.
He was charged with “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security” based on claims made by the Intelligence Ministry.
He was released from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on February 3, 2021.
On July 8, 2008, Shakiba was arrested along with four other students for exposing one of the deputy chancellors of Zanjan University for trying to take sexual advantage of a female student.
The Revolutionary Court in Zanjan sentenced Shakiba in March 2010 to a year in prison and a two-year suspension from university for “causing public anxiety” and “instigating illegal gatherings against national security.” The Appeals Court reduced his sentence to six months in prison, which he served from November 2010 to March 2011.
