Concern grows for missing jailed activist

An opposition website reports concerns over the whereabouts of jailed student activist Zia Nabavi, who after being summoned to court last Tuesday was not returned to his cell.

The Kaleme website reports that Zia Nabavi was taken to court from Ahvaz Prison, where he is serving a 10-year prison sentence, and he has not been returned to prison since. The report indicates that he is possibly being held in solitary confinement at the Intelligence Ministry office.

Nabavi was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the court for “cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization”, an outlawed dissident group. Nabavi has denied the charge.

The report goes on to add: “In the course of [Nabavi’s] transfer, all of his belongings in jail were searched and some of his writings were confiscated.”

Kaleme adds: “One of the latest writings of Zia Nabavi involves a critical view of the death sentence issued for the peaceful Arab activist Mohammadali Amouri, which could possibly be related to the transfer of the student activist from Ahvaz Revolutionary Court to the Intelligence Ministry office.”

The Iranian judiciary has sentenced Mohammadali Amouri to death together with another four prisoners. They are all members of a cultural organization that goes by the name of Al-Havar (Dialogue) and they were arrested in February of 2011.

Human rights groups claim that the five prisoners were tortured for months under the supervision of the Intelligence Ministry and were finally sentenced to “enmity against God and terrorist activities.”

They have all denied the charges in court and announced that the confessions extracted from them were given under duress and torture.