HRANA News Agency – Following the acceptance of a request for sentence consolidation, labor activist Maziar Seyednejad’s sentence was reduced to three years, three months, and two days by the Khuzestan Province Court of Appeals. Previously, he had been sentenced to a total of six years in prison across two separate cases heard by Revolutionary Courts in Ahvaz and Tehran.
According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists in Iran, this revised sentence was issued by Branch 16 of the Khuzestan Court of Appeals, presided over by Saeed Koosha, on December 20, 2023, and has since been communicated to Seyednejad. He was sentenced to two years, seven months, and sixteen days in prison for “membership in an anti-regime group” and to seven months and sixteen days for “propaganda against the regime.” Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the severest sentence—two years, seven months, and sixteen days—will be enforceable.
Seyednejad, currently on furlough, had previously been sentenced by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court in January 2023 to three years in prison, a two-year ban on leaving the country, prohibition from joining political parties or groups, and a ban on social media activity for charges of “membership in an illegal Marxist-leftist group” and “propaganda against the regime.” In another case, Branch 4 of the Ahvaz Revolutionary Court sentenced him to three years in prison for “membership in anti-regime groups (communist groups).”
Seyednejad was arrested by security forces on June 7, 2021, at his home in Tehran and was released from Evin Prison on August 16, 2021, after posting bail of 600 million tomans. He eventually reported to Evin Prison on May 21, 2022, to serve his sentence.
Maziar Seyednejad has a history of arrests and convictions related to his activism.