Labor Activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh Arrested Again In Tehran

Iran-HRM – Labor activist Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was arrested and transferred to an unknown location on December 12 after six state security forces inspected his home in Tehran without a warrants.

Labor activist As’ad (Behnam) Ebrahimzadeh was arrested and transferred to an unknown location on December 12 after six state security forces inspected his home in Tehran without a warrants.

According to Ebrahimzadeh’s family, the agents did not provide a reason for the arrest and Mr Ebrahimzadeh was verbally informed the same day about 18 months imprisonment.

Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was not formally notified of the verdict which was only posted on the Judiciary’s website.

The verdict of 18 months behind bars had been issued in absentia on November 20.

Earlier, he had been arrested in Kermanshah on August 17, 2018, when he had gone to the aid of people in the quake-stricken areas.

During his detention he was informed that he had been chargee with “spreading propaganda against the state”, wihch was brought against him for “publication of news about the deplorable condition of the earthquake survivors in Sarpol-e Zahab.”

On September 11, he was bailed out till his trial.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh reveived a brief phone call on November 22, summoning him to the Revolutionary Court of Dalahoo, a county in Kermanshah Province.

Earlier, he had been arrested in Kermanshah on August 17, 2018, when he had gone to the aid of people in the quake-stricken areas.

During his detention he was informed of the charge of “spreading probaganda against the state”, wich was brought against him for “publication of news about the deplorable condition of the earthquake servivors in Sarplul Zahab.”

A trade union activist and member of the Society for the Protection of Child and Street Workers in Tehran, Ebrahimzadeh, 43, served seven years in prison after he was arrested at a Labor Day rally on May 1, 2010.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was initially sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by Judge Abolqasem Salavati in December 2010 without the presence of a lawyer after conviction of “enmity against God” for his alleged collaborating with the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) and “assembly and collusion against national security.”

This was overturned by the Supreme Court, and he was sentenced to five years after a retrial after conviction of “gathering and
colluding with intent to harm state security”, which was upheld on appeal in October 2011.

The labor activist who reportedly suffered two broken ribs as a result of beatings during his arrest, was beaten, injured and sent to solitary confinement for 15 days as punishment for allegedly resisting Evin Prison guards during a violent search of Ward 305 on “Black Thursday,” April 17, 2014.

In June 2015, he was again transferred to solitary confinement in Ward 209 and charged with talking to foreign media from inside prison and writing a letter about his situation in August 2014 to the UN’s special representative on the human rights situation in Iran.

In December 2014, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court tried Ebrahimzadeh without the presence of a lawyer and sentenced him to nine years and four months in prison for “propaganda against the state,” “assembly and collusion against national security,” “using satellite equipment” and “keeping a deck of cards.”

The Appeals Court reduced the sentence to seven years, 10 months and 15 days in prison and fined him 450,000 tomans ($139 USD).

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh (As’ad Ebrahimzadeh) was released from Raja’e Shahr Prison in Karaj, on May 1, 2017, after serving seven years.