Feb 10, 2017

Southern Azerbaijan: Human Rights Advocate Tortured and Imprisoned


Photo courtesy of southernazerbaijan.com

Siyamak Mirzayi, a Southern Azerbaijani human rights advocate who had already been arrested by the Iranian regime when he was a student at Gilan University in 2010, was sentenced to ten years in prison in Tehran, far away from his home and his family, and to two years of exile in Tabas, over 1,500 km from his native region. Mr Mirzayi was accused of expressing on social media his views on the right to self-determination for the Azerbaijani minority in Iran. Apprehended on 11 June 2016 in his hometown by the border with Azerbaijan, the human rights activist was subjected to torture and held in solitary confinement during his pre-trial detention in a notorious intelligence agency holding facility in Tehran.

Below is an article published by Southernazerbaijan.com:

The South Azerbaijani human rights advocate Seyamak Mirzayi was sentenced to a harsh punishment of 10 years in prison and 2 years exile to Tabas region, located in South Khorasan, by the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Baharistan, Tehran.

In a 6 page disposition the revolutionary Tribunal made references to Mr. Morzayi’s comments and activities in the social media such as his facebook posts and concluded that all these activities were part of his PanTurkism activities. Mirzayi is to serve his prison term in Tehran prior to his exile to Tabas.
Mirzayi was arrested on June 11 2016 in the town of Parsabad of Mugan by Ettelaat agents and transferred to Tabriz and later on to Tehran holding centre of Ettelaat. He was subject to harsh treatment and torture while being held in the notorious spy agency’s solitary confinement.
He is currently being held in Evin Prison of Tehran. His lawyer, Jafar Afshania has announced that the sentence is too harsh and his client is planing to appeal to the higher court.