Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Mehdi Salimi, a writer and translator, who was arrested on July 7, at his parents’ house in Ahar, is facing charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic, blasphemy, inciting corruption and prostitution, and assembly and collusion against national security”.
Over the past year, there has been an intensification in the state repression of writers, artists, and civil society activists to stifle freedom of expression through intimidation tactics of arbitrary security-related charges and handing down harsher sentences. Iran Human Rights previously raised concerns about the targeted repression of civil society and called on the international community to pay more attention to human rights in Iran.
In a continuation of the pressure, Mehdi Salimi, a writer and translator, was arrested at his parents’ house in Ahar, on Tuesday, July 7.
Bijan Sabbagh, who is close to Mehdi Salimi, told IHR: “Mehdi Salimi has been charged on four counts. Charges such as ‘assembly and collusion against nationals security, blasphemy, inciting corruption and prostitution and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.’ Mehdi is a writer and researcher who was also active on Twitter. He may have been arrested for his tweets, because he did not censor his words in any way and wrote openly.”
Mehdi Salimi has not been able to see his family since his arrest and has been denied access to legal counsel. He has only been allowed to phone his family once. He is said to be detained in solitary confinement in Evin Prison.
Mehdi Salimi has published numerous articles on political thought and art theory and translated works such as, “The Lacanian Real” by Slavoy Zizek and “The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty” by Claude Lefort. Mehdi also previously served as editor of the online magazine “Charcoal and Art Cult” and the “Mind Motor” website.
Prior to his arrest, Mehdi tweeted: “I was just threatened on the phone. In between the vulgar threats, I just said, when you tell a writer not to write, it is as if you are telling a person not to breathe and the response was: if you continue, we’ll cut your breath and this is the last warning.”
