Reza Eslami, 57, was arrested by Iranian intelligence in May last year and has been detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison since. He was sentenced to seven years in prison on Sunday, reported Radio Farda on Monday. Adding that his sentence, issued by Branch 25 of the Revolutionary Court by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, was declared “subject to appeal.”
Eslami, a father of two, is a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen. He was a professor of human rights and environmental law in Shahid Bahashti University in Tehran, and holds a PhD in Law from McGill University in Canada. He was sentenced for participating in a law course in Czech Republic that was funded by an American NGO, according to Radio Farda, as told by his relatives.
At least 13 foreign and dual nationals are currently imprisoned in Iran on “vague” charges, according to a US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“The prisoners’ arrests were followed by a pattern of prolonged solitary confinement and interrogations; lack of due process; denial of consular access or visits by the UN or humanitarian organizations; secretive trials in which the detainee is given limited access to counsel,” reported the human rights center.
Many have accused Iran as using dual nationals as “bargaining chips” with other nations.
Tens of thousands of Iranian people and ethnic minority groups, including Kurds and Azeris, are held as political prisoners in Iranian jails, for charges including advocating for democracy and promoting women's or workers' rights.
Scores of activists, teachers, lawyers, human rights advocates, students, including ethnic and religious minorities, have been imprisoned after arbitrary arrests, forced confessions and torture in the Islamic Republic.
On February 3, 36 civil society and human rights organizations called for urgent international action to be taken against the arbitrary detention of Kurdish activists in Iran, expressing concern over forced “confessions” gained by torture and ill-treatment.
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