Student Activist, Received 5 Years Suspended Sentence

HRANA News Agency – Siamak Sohrabi, a student activist at Sharif Polytechnic University, has been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court, Branch 26, to serve five years in prison on charges of planning gatherings and conspiring to act against national security. According to this verdict, his five-year prison sentence is suspended.

On Wednesday, April 13, 2011, Siamak Sohrabi was released on bail after spending 45 days in prison. On April 25, 2011, the Revolutionary Court, Branch 26, was convened with the presence of Siamak Sohrabi’s attorneys, Dr. Yosef Molahi and Saleh Nikbakht. Judge Pierabasi presided over the trial. Amongst those arrested during the demonstrations on February 14, 2011 in Sharif Polytechnic University, Siamak Sohrabi is the first college student who has been tried and convicted.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Siamak Sohrabi is the chairman of the board for the General Council of Islamic Students’ Association, the representative of the Islamic Association in the university’s Civil Council and a Civil Engineering graduate student. Siamak Sohrabi was arrested on February 28, 2011 while attempting to leave the university and then transferred to Evin prison.

Siamak Sohrabi has also served as a member of the University Guild Council and the Civil Engineering Guild Council. Prior to his arrest, he had written a letter to the Interim President of the Sharif University, Reza Rosta Azad, criticizing his policies and pressures placed on students and demanded the release of all arrested students.

On February 14, 2011, eighteen students were arrested during a gathering held in the Sharif University. Ali Akbar Mohammad Zade, the Secretary of Islamic Students Council, is the only student who is still in prison after being in custody for over three months. In the last few weeks, after spending nearly two months in the solitary confinement, Ali Akbar Mohammad Zade was transferred to ward 209 and then to the high-security ward 350 in Evin prison.