TEHRAN (The Thursday Times) — An Iranian court has sentenced the blogger and satirist Saeed Shakiba to five years in prison after he posted a video imitating the voice of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, two human rights groups said.
Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammadreza Amouzad, convicted Shakiba of “assembly and collusion against national security”, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) and the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. The verdict was communicated to him in prison on Wednesday, November 11, a week after his hearing before the same court, the groups said.
Shakiba is being held at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, according to HRANA.
He was arrested in October after sharing a satirical video on social media in which he impersonated Khamenei, who was killed during the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. The judiciary’s media arm announced at the time that a case had been opened against an unnamed blogger over content it described as “insulting and abusive”, and later said an indictment had been issued.
The charges cited by the judiciary during the proceedings included insulting officials, propaganda against the state, and supporting Israel. The final sentence, however, was handed down only on the national security charge, the rights groups said.
The US State Department has said in its human rights reports on Iran that the authorities use national security charges to prosecute critics over their remarks and social media posts. Rights groups have reported a string of heavy sentences in recent weeks against activists, teachers’ union members, and people detained during protests earlier this year.
