An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced Manouchehr Bakhtiari to six years in prison, two and a half years in internal exile, and a two-year ban from leaving the country for what he says was seeking justice for his son.
Bakhtiari’s family have published an audio file of his only phone call to the family since his arrest on April 28. His whereabouts were unknown before his phone call on Thursday when he informed them of his sentence and that he was held in Karaj Central Prison. Bakhtiari told his family he had not been allowed to appoint a lawyer to represent him in the trial, that he “did not recognize” the court and that his sentence was unjust.
Bakhtiari’s 27-year-old son Pouya was shot in the head in suspicious circumstances in Karaj during November 2019 protests. The family accuse security forces of his death. Manouchehr Bakhtiari has campaigned to make the authorities accountable for the death of his son and hundreds of others allegedly killed by security forces during the 2019 protests.
Manouchehr Bakhtiari, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), became an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic and an open supporter of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since the Pahlavi regime was ended by the 1979 revolution. He has been arrested several times since the death of his son, including in July 2020 after he appealed to the United Nations to form a commission to investigate the crackdown on anti-government protests.
Source » iranintl