UPDATE: On Monday 25 April 2022, a court in Iran sentenced the two students to 16-year prison terms each on charges of endangering national security. 

Amnesty International’s Statement: 

University students Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi are arbitrarily detained in section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, since 10 April 2020

Following their arrest, they were held in solitary confinement for 60 days in violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.

Ali Younesi revealed to his family that he had been denied adequate healthcare for injuries to his left eye sustained during beatings by Military of Intelligence agents and that lights in his cell were turned on 24 hours a day, which left him with no sense of day or night and caused him distress and pain.

Amirhossein Moradi reported being beaten harshly during his arrest. Ministry of Intelligence agents repeatedly interrogated them without their lawyers present and forced them to make “confessions,” in violation to their right to remain silent and not to incriminate themselves.

During a hearing before Branch 29 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran held on 3 July 2021, they were accused of “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz), which carries the death penalty, “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system”.

The authorities violated their right to be presumed innocent by publicly accusing them of ties to “counterrevolutionary” groups apparently based on their families’ real or perceived association with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), an opposition group based outside of Iran. Authorities also made spurious accusations of having found “explosive devices” in their possession. Both students denied these accusations.

Their interrogators also accused them of removing posters of Iranian officials and participating in peaceful protests in January 2020. The two students were denied access to a lawyer of their own choosing for the first 13 months of their detention. They remain held in separate parts of Section 209 without trial, where, according to a relative, they are denied adequate healthcare and fresh air and sleep on the floor. Ali Younesi has never been examined by an eye doctor.

 

Our request: 

We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations, the European Union, and the rest of the International community to speak up against the unjust detention of Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi. 

We call on the Iranian government to release immediately and unconditionally Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, detained solely based on their families’ real or perceived ties to opposition groups. Pending this, we ask you to ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, provided urgently with the medical care they require, and given access to their families and a lawyer of their choosing.

We also urge you to open an independent investigation into allegations that the two were beaten upon arrest and held in conditions violating the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment with a view of bringing those responsible to justice in proceedings meeting international standards of a fair trial. 

 

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