{"id":629,"date":"2015-05-27T09:35:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T09:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.bashariyat.org\/?p=629"},"modified":"2015-05-27T09:35:12","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T09:35:12","slug":"journalist-exiled-the-day-he-completes-six-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.bashariyat.org\/?p=629","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Exiled the Day He Completes Six Years in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist who served six years in prison for his work, was transferred to the city of Gonabad in northeastern Iran today to begin serving his time in exile. The Tehran Prosecutor\u2019s Office informed Mr. Zeidabadi\u2019s family earlier this week that he would be exiled to Gonabad immediately upon release from Rajaee Shahr Prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The immediate enforcement of Mr. Zeidabadi\u2019s exile sentence after such a long prison sentence is unusual and particularly shocking to his family, as many thought that his exile sentence would not be enforced.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A source knowledgeable about Ahmad Zeidabadi\u2019s case told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his family was informed by the court that his five-year exile sentence had been changed to two years. The new decision, however, has not been officially announced by the court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the court order, Ahmad Zeidabadi has to appear at the Gonabad Governor\u2019s Office in person. \u201cEarlier, an official inside the Tehran Prosecutor\u2019s Office had informed Mr. Zeidabadi\u2019s family about the enforcement of the journalist\u2019s exile sentence, but the family did not believe it, as they didn\u2019t think the officials would subject him to further torment after six years [in prison],\u201d said the source.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a May 19, 2015 post on her Facebook page, Ahmad Zeidabadi\u2019s wife, Mahdieh Mohammadi Gorgani, wrote, \u201cWe were waiting for Ahmad to be released on May 21 after six years in prison, but now they say they will take him to exile from prison. We feel so oppressed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Revolutionary Guard intelligence agents arrested Ahmad Zeidabadi, journalist and Secretary General of Iran\u2019s nationwide Alumni Association (Advar), on June 12, 2009, and transferred him to the Guard\u2019s Ward 2-A inside Evin Prison. He was put on trial on November 23, 2009, and was sentenced to six years in prison, five years in exile in Gonabad, and a lifetime ban on social and political activities on charges of \u201cpropaganda against the state,\u201d \u201cassembly and collusion to create riots after the presidential election,\u201d and \u201cinsulting the Supreme Leader.\u201d In February 2010, along with a number of other political prisoners, he was transferred to Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, outside Tehran, where he served most of his prison term.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a political analyst, Ahmad Zeidabadi began his journalistic career at Etela\u2019at Newspaper in 1989, and in the years prior to his arrest worked primarily with reformist newspapers. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Iranian Journalists. The main reason for his 2009 prosecution was an open letter he had written to Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, criticizing him for his lack of accountability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an April 28, 2015, interview with Charlie Rose, when Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was asked about journalists imprisoned in Iran, he asserted, \u201cWe do not jail people for their opinions. The government has a plan to improve, enhance human rights in the country. As every government should. And I believe we have an obligation as a government to our own people to do that. But people who commit crimes, who violate the laws of the country, cannot hide by being a journalist, being a political activist. People have to observe the law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, when Iranian Member of Parliament Ali Motahari was asked about whether there were political prisoners in Iran during a May 12, 2015 visit to Zanjan University, he answered, \u201cSome prisoners had no role in the events of 2009 [a reference to the widespread protests that followed the disputed presidential election in Iran that year], but they are in prison simply because they have reformist thinking, or were active during the reformist era, and I have personally never understood what crime they committed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist who served six years in prison for his work, was transferred to the city of Gonabad in northeastern Iran today to begin serving his time in exile. The Tehran Prosecutor\u2019s Office informed Mr. Zeidabadi\u2019s family earlier this week that he would be exiled to Gonabad immediately upon release from Rajaee Shahr … <\/p>\n

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