A group of national-cultural activists from Ardabil met with released prisoner Yusif Kari, Mehrdad Sheikh and retired Ali Vasigi.
At the meeting, Azerbaijani activists and released prisoners stressed the need to support political prisoners Abbas Lisani, Siamak Mirzai and Alirza Farshi, who have suffered injustice in the Iranian judiciary.
Yusif Kari was released on June 28, 50 days before the end of his two-year sentence, and Mehrdad Sheikh was released on June 28, 20 days before the end of his six-month sentence.
Ali Vasigi was released on a one-week leave on the same day with 50 million tomans in bail.
It should be noted that Abbas Lisani went on a hunger strike on June 12 to protest against the transfer of prisoners who have committed serious crimes to the cells of political prisoners and the pressure of prison authorities on political prisoners.
Yusif Kari, Mehrdad Sheikh and Ali Wasiqi, other southern political prisoners held in Ardabil prison on the same date, joined the protest to express their solidarity with him.
Yusif Kari was sentenced to 6 years in prison by the 1st Department of the Ardabil Revolutionary Court after his detention on September 3, 2019. The decision was later reduced to two years in prison by the 13th Division of the Court of Appeal.
Mehrdad Sheikh, who was arrested on September 20, 2019, was sentenced by the Ardabil Revolutionary Court to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the system,” which was later commuted by the Court of Appeals to six months in prison.
Mehrdad Sheikh, a national cultural activist, was sent to Ardabil prison on February 27 to serve a six-month prison sentence, according to a statement from the Judicial Enforcement Office.
Mehrdad Sheikh was detained in 2019 for participating in protests against rising fuel prices.
He was detained by security forces at his father’s house in Ardabil on November 20, 2019, and after being detained for 11 days, he was released on bail of 30 million tomans.
The Ardabil Revolutionary Court sentenced Sheikh to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the system.” However, the Court of Appeal reduced this period to 6 months.
