Iran Human Rights: The international community must work to free Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi

 

Iran Human Rights: The international community must work to free Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi

Iran Human Rights (IHR); April 16, 2021: According to a former cellmate, students Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi have been tortured and beaten to force false confessions from them. One year after his arrest, Ali and Amirhossein are still being held in security ward 209 of Evin Prison without trial or access to their lawyer.

Their lawyer has said that he has not been allowed to meet or talk to his clients and that they have been accused of efsad fil arz (corruption on earth). The prosecution is punishable by death and risks being executed by Ali and Amirhossein. Iran Human Rights had previously warned of the imminent heavy penalties and TV confessions the two students would face.

According to former political prisoner and eyewitness, Mojtaba Hosseini, Ali Younesi still suffered blows to the eye three months after his arrest.

IHR Director Mahmood Amiry Moghaddam said: "Over the past year, Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi have been under the most intense pressure to force false confessions and have not had access to the lawyers they choose. The allegations made against them by the judiciary have been made by the security institutions and have no legal basis. We are concerned that they will be forced to make false confessions through coercion and torture, which could be used as a basis for heavy punishment against them. ”

According to Mojtaba Hosseini, the forced confession sessions sometimes lasted all night and did not end until the scripts were read in the exact tone and manner that the interrogators were looking for.

Iran Human Rights reiterates its previous position on condemning their treatment, which is also illegal under the Islamic Republic's own laws, and calls on the international community to ensure the immediate release of the two detained students, access to their lawyers and a fair trial and a fair trial. trial. in their case, regardless of any accusations from interrogators and confessions that may be withdrawn from them under pressure.

Ali Younesi, a computer science student at Sharif University of Technology, and Amir Hossein Moradi, a physics student at the university, were arrested without a legal summons on April 10, 2020 and held in solitary confinement for two months before being transferred to the ministry. of Intelligence (MOIS) Division 209 in Evin Prison.

In an interview with Emtedad online, their lawyer Mostafa Nili said that he has not been allowed to meet or talk to his clients during the past year. In addition, their trial, which was to take place this week, was postponed after security forces arbitrarily decided not to take the two students to court.

Ali's brother, Reza Younesi, had previously said: "Ali was taken home by 12 security officers with clothes. The agents had beaten him severely, he had blood on his face, head injuries and had been physically abused. The officers looted the entire house and took all the cell phones, computers, and my father's car. ”

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Mojtaba Hosseini, a former political prisoner held in Ward 209 of the Evin Prison for some time and now outside Iran, told the IHR that Ali Younesi was being held in a small solitary confinement cell with strong light for a full two months of interrogation. 24/7, which prevented Ali from ever resting.

The pressure from the lengthy interrogation sessions and the threats against his family led Ali Younesi to tell the interrogators that he was willing to even admit that he killed Imam Hossein (the third Shia man) during Ashura (the Battle of Karbala, 680 AD), if they released him.

The security forces had also told Ali Younesi that they took him to meet the Swedish ambassador, but he realized over time that it was a security trap.

Iran Human Rights believes that such pressure tactics are a tool of security forces to initiate forced confessions and used as evidence in the issuance of the death penalty and warns of the risk to the lives of Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi.

On May 5, 2020, Gholamhossein accused Esmaeili, the president of the Islamic Republic's judiciary, Ali and Amirhossein of having links to dissident groups and having "explosive devices". Their

 families have denied such claims.

Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gholamhossein Esmaili, the two students "wanted to create a catastrophic situation under Corona, which was countered by the vigilance of the security forces."

At the time, Ali's sister, Aida Younesi, reacted to the allegations in a Twitter message. She called all the allegations "ridiculous" and said it was unclear what had happened to her brother in the past 26 days.

In high school, Ali Younesi won silver and gold at the National Astronomy Olympiad in 2016 and 2017, respectively. During his high school years, he won the gold medal with the Iranian national team at the 2018 Astronomy Olympiad in China. When he was arrested, he was studying computer science at Sha's