Hamid Monafi, a Turkish (Azerbaijani) activist, was arrested at his workplace in Tehran. He was sentenced by the judiciary to two years in prison and two years in exile in the city of Azna.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Hamid Monafi was arrested by security forces at his workplace in Tehran today, Tuesday, July 21st, 2020.
On February 21st, 2014, coinciding with the International Mother Language Day, Mr. Monafi along with Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, Mansour Fathi, Aziz Farshi, Israfil Soltanian were arrested by security agents in Nasim Shahr, Tehran. Later, Behnam Sheikhi, Hamid Monafi Nadarli, Rostam Kazempour and Mahmoud Ajaghloo were arrested. All detainees were released on bail after being interrogated.
Hamid Monafi was sentenced by the First Branch of the Baharestan Court to 10 years in prison and 2 years in exile in the city of Azna in Lorestan Province for “participating in a forming a group in order to disrupt the country’s security”. The sentence was eventually reduced to two years in prison and two years in exile in Branch 54 of the Tehran Court of Appeals presided over by Judge Babaei with the attendance of his lawyer, Mohammad Reza Faghihi.