National-cultural activists Yusif Kari and Mehrdad Sheikh from Ardabil, South Azerbaijan, were sent to the funeral on July 7. Their trial will result in the expiration of their detention.
They were released 50 days before the end of Yusif Kari’s two-year sentence and 20 days before the end of Mehrdad Sheikh’s six-month sentence.
Earlier, in the month of Ordibehesht, officials of the Ardabil prison met with Yusuf Kari and Mehrdad Sheikh. Prison officials agreed to pardon them for the remainder of their sentences.
Both political activists have denied the allegations, saying their actions are legal and the charges against them are baseless. National activists said the trial was unfair.
On January 13, Yusif Kari went on a hunger strike to protest the transfer of dangerous prisoners to a political prison and the insults of the prison administration and a responsible warden for seeking medical treatment.
Another Azerbaijani activist, Mehrdad Sheikh, was arrested at his father’s house in 1398 and sentenced to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the regime,” along with general protests against rising gas prices during the 1398 aban protests. The first opinion was reduced to six months in prison on appeal to the Court of Reconstruction.
