Hashem Khastar, the representative of the Iranian teachers Association in Khorassan Razavi province, received a final verdict by a court in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, condemning him to 16 years in prison and a further two-year exile term for his political activities.
Another teacher Mohammad-Hossein Sepehri, his sister Fatemeh Sepehri and Mohammad Nourizad also received long term prisons for having asked Ali Khamenei, the mullahs’ supreme leader, to step down.
NCRI’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi qualified such brutal verdicts, especially at a time when all prisoners have to be immediately released because of the coronavirus infection, clear examples of the atrocity of the religious supreme leader and his chief justice.
The Iranian Judiciary handed down a 16-year sentence and 2-year exile to freedom-loving teacher, Hashem Khastar. Other political activists received long prison terms for calling for Khamenei’s resignation and expressing their political views. #Iran
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 31, 2020
She urged the UN High Commissionaire for Human Rights as well as the UN Special rapporteur for Iran to intervene to demand the release of these prisoners whose lives are in danger.
The clerical regime must free all prisoners and stop arrests, torture and executions in #Iran. It must particularly refrain from preventing national solidarity efforts and the aid provided by rebellious youth to our compatriots #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/IXvco3VzjR
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) March 29, 2020
In an open letter on June 11, 2019, along with 14 other colleagues and civil society activists, Mr. Khastar had asked Ali Khamenei, the mullahs’ regime supreme leader, to demission. The signatories had also called for constitutional reforms.
According to Mrs. Rajavi, those prisoners have no sin other than expressing political beliefs and writing articles, especially Hashem Khastar, who pays a high price for having published his thoughts.
Hashem Khastar has been arrested several times in the past. He was confined to mental incarceration two years ago.
A few weeks before his last arrest on August 12, 2019, Mr. Khastar revealed that MOIS agents had urged him to speak against the MEK, a demand he refused.
