Kiumars Marzban, a political prisoner returned to Evin Prison to continue his imprisonment

Human Rights in Iran – Monday, 22nd June, 2020 / Kiumars Marzban, a writer, satirist and political prisoner returned to Evin Prison after completing his furlough, to continue his imprisonment.

According to Human Rights in Iran, on Monday, 22nd June 2020, Kiumars Marzban, a writer and satirist, after completing his temporary leave returned to ward 8 of Evin Prison. This literary activist is serving a sentence of 11 years in prison on charges of “communication with hostile states”. Kiumars Marzban was sentenced by branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran to 23 years and 9 months in prison, which the sentence was upheld by branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals.

This literary activist was sent on a temporary leave on bail on April 7, 2020.

On October 13, 2019, Kiumars Marzban sentenced by branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals to 23 years and 9 months in prison on charges of “connection with hostile states”, “insulting the sacred”, “propaganda against the government”, “insulting the leadership”, “insulting the founder of Islamic Republic, Khomeini” and “insulting the officials”. By applying the Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, this literary activist was forced to serve 11 years in prison on charges of having links with hostile states.

On August 24, 2019, in the preliminary hearing, branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over judge Abolghassem Salavati, issued a verdict against Kiumars Marzban and accused him of “connecting with hostile states”, “insulting the sacred”, “propaganda and the government”, “insulting the leadership”, “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khomeini”, and “insulting the officials”.

Human Rights in Iran published a report on January 13, 2019, informing the referral of Kiumars Marzban’s case to branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, which was chaired by judge Abolghassem Salavati.

Kiumars Marzban, a 27-year-old writer and satirist returned to Iran after living in Malaysia and Georgia for 8 years and was arrested by Revolutionary Guards on August 26, 2018, while he was writing and teaching how to write satire.

After being detained, this writer and satirist had been held for a long time in a state of uncertainty in solitary confinement of ward 2A in Evin Prison, during which his family was completely unaware of his whereabouts.

In an interview with the reporter of Human Rights in Iran, a relative of Kiumars Marzban, said that Kiumars loved writing and he made a great strides in recent years, even though he was very young. He had no political affiliation with individuals and political groups, and his only concern was writing and literary activities. It is shocking to us that he has been arrested and at the same time there are rumors against him that none of them are true.

The arrest, repression and violent treatment of media and press activists take place in Iran, while according to the annual report of the Reporters Without Borders, Iran ranks 170th in the world among 180 countries in the field of press and media.

The suppression of art activists, writers and satirists and the imposition of restrictions on their civil rights are among the most flagrant human rights violations of freedom of expression illustrated in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 19.

Article 5 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that the accused shall be informed of the charges and provided access to a lawyer as soon as possible. Other defensive rights are mentioned in law, but extrajudicial actions taken by the security services violate the laws that they themselves drafted and claim to be enforced.

Also the individuals’ right to access fully fair trial is one of the inalienable rights accentuated in Article 10 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.