As part of the ongoing judicial and security crackdown on participants in nationwide protests, Ali Mousawi, a protester during the November 2019 demonstrations, was arrested to begin serving his sentence and transferred to Sheiban Prison in Ahwaz.
According to reports received by the Karoon Human Rights Organization, the 29-year-old Ahwazi citizen was first arrested by security forces during the November 2019 protests. After enduring months of imprisonment and torture in solitary confinement at security detention centers, he was eventually released temporarily on bail pending the completion of judicial proceedings.
Following his temporary release, Mr. Mousawi was tried by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic on the charge of “active participation in the 2019 unrest” and was sentenced at the trial court level to 15 years in prison. After review during subsequent stages of the judicial process, the sentence was ultimately reduced to six years of discretionary imprisonment and has now been enforced.
Ali Mousawi is from the Alawi district, also known as Hayy al-Thawra, in Ahwaz. He is married and has three children. The enforcement of this lengthy prison sentence will place his family under severe financial and psychological strain. Alavi district was one of the main centers of the November 2019 protests in Ahwaz, which were met with a severe and violent crackdown by security and law-enforcement forces. Dozens of young people from the area were arrested, summoned, or sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
The Karoon Human Rights Organization reiterates citizens’ fundamental right to hold peaceful gatherings and protests, considers the issuance and enforcement of such sentences a clear instance of the suppression of freedom of expression, and calls for the annulment of unjust sentences against November 2019 protesters and their immediate release.
