Press release- Brussels- Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament – 6 January 2017
Iranian dissidents are expressing deep concerns about the fate of Mr Ali Moezzi, 65, a prominent political prisoner who disappeared in prison this week after authorities suspiciously transferred him to an unknown location.
He is a supporter of the main opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) and has been serving a sentence in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran. On Wednesday 4 January he was transferred from the prison to an unknown location and there is no information of his whereabouts ever since.
Mr Moezzi was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to two years in prison after visiting his two daughters in Camp Ashraf, the Iraqi place of residence for the PMOI members at the time.
Moezzi also endured time behind bars as a political prisoner back in the 1980s. He was last arrested in 2011 and sentenced to four years in prison. In December 2015 despite the fact that his term had been finished, he was sentenced again to an extra year in prison. Moezzi suffers from various illnesses and has time and again been placed in solitary confinement and under torture.
The ‘Friends of a Free Iran’ in the European Parliament which enjoys the support of over 300 MEPs from different political groups, calls on the EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights Situation in Iran, Asma Jahangir, to take urgent action and urge the Iranian regime to immediately release Mr Moezzi and to ensure his safety.
Gérard Deprez, MEP
President of Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament (FOFI)
Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) is an informal group in the European Parliament which was formed in 2003 and enjoys the active support of many MEPs from various political groups
Background information:
Ali Moezzi is father to two female members of the PMOI who actively oppose the Iranian regime. The authorities have told Mr Moezzi on several occasions that they intend to bring new bogus charges against him to prevent his release after the end of his sentence. Agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have told him that they would torture him to death and would not allow him to be released from prison alive.
There is reason to believe Moezzi faces imminent threat.
In a public plea in 2015, one of Moezzi’s daughters, Hejrat, detailed her father’s persistent harassment and the slew of charges being brought against him:
“Over the last seven years, my father has been charged not once, but four times. Each time, he has refused his participation in the trials citing their lack of legitimacy and due process. Each time, henchmen beat him and forced him to court. Disregarding the fact that he was near the end of his term, they sentenced him to an additional year of prison. The charges are ongoing… Due to my father’s resistance and bravery, these courts will likely still arbitrarily prolong his sentence…In May 2015, a group of thugs beat him so hard against an iron railing that his forehead split…”
