Iranian student activists sentenced to imprisonment

Two student activists in Mazandaran have been handed prison terms by the Iranian Revolutionary Court.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that Moshfegh Samandari, a student activist has been sentenced to six months in prison.

He has been accused of “advertising the Baha’i religion” and was kept in solitary confinement for 80 days in Sari branch of the Intelligence Ministry.

Reportedly Samandari has been subjected to harsh “psychological pressures” which along with the harsh prison conditions have caused him heart complications for which he is now under treatment.

About 15 Iranian Baha’i citizens were arrested in December following the Ashura Day protests. Iranian judiciary and security officials have accused Baha’is of supporting the recent protests in Iran.

Mehdi Davoodian, another Mazandaran Univeristy activist, has been sentenced to six months in prison and also been handed a three year suspended sentence on top of that.

Davoodian was also active in the headquarters of the Khatami and Mousavi supporters in the city of Babol, and following the post elections protests to the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for 20 days.

In the past nine months, Iranian university students have been the target of widespread arrests, and they have been handed sentences ranging from execution to imprisonment and exile. Scores of students have also been banned from continuing their studies.

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran several student activists are being kept in very harsh conditions in prison and their health is deteriorating rapidly.