Mostafa Nili, a lawyer, announced that new prison sentences have been issued for Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, two imprisoned elite students, on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “supporting Israel.”
On Saturday, August 9, Nili wrote on the social media platform X that Branch 29 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Moradi and Younesi to 15 months in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against the state.”
According to the lawyer, in another case against Younesi, the Iranian regime’s judiciary sentenced him to five years in Kerman Prison on the charge of “endorsing and supporting” Israel.
Nili added: “As an additional punishment, Mr. Ali Younesi is banned from using any virtual platforms or making phone calls outside the prison, except in urgent cases under the direct supervision of the prison warden, during his prison term.”
Ali Younesi’s brother says the reason for his brother’s sentence was a “false” report by Hedayatollah Farzadi, the warden of Evin Prison, claiming that after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel, Younesi distributed sweets.
According to Reza Younesi, the sit-in and protest by prisoners following the execution of Mojahed Korkor was another incident cited in the Evin warden’s report as the basis for the new ruling against Ali Younesi.
Mojahed Korkor was a protester from Izeh whom the Iranian regime executed at dawn on Wednesday, June 11. Following this, political prisoners in Ward 4 of Evin Prison, including Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, staged a sit-in in protest.
This is not the first time the Iranian regime has accused citizens of “supporting Israel.” Following the 12-day war and ceasefire between the Iranian regime and Israel, hundreds of citizens in Iran have faced fabricated cases by security and judicial bodies, putting them at risk of harsh sentences such as execution and imprisonment.
On August 9, the Iranian regime’s judiciary spokesperson identified 20 citizens arrested after the recent war as “espionage agents and supporters of Mossad” and said their cases are under review.
The new prison sentences for Younesi and Moradi come as they have already been imprisoned for more than five years.
These two elite students, arrested in 2020, were only 19 years old at the time of their detention.
Younesi, born on March 4, 2001, is a computer science student at Sharif University of Technology and the winner of a gold medal in the 2018 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in Beijing, China. Together with the Iranian team, he won first place globally by earning five gold medals in the 12th edition of the competition.
Moradi, born on February 19, 2001, is another student at Sharif University and the holder of a silver medal in Iran’s National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017.
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In May 2020, then-judiciary spokesperson Gholamhossein Esmaili accused the two students of having ties with “anti-regime groups,” including the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
He also claimed that “explosives were found” in their homes — an allegation strongly denied by Younesi, Moradi, their families, and people close to them.
After nearly two years of interrogation and pressure to obtain televised confessions, in May 2022, the Revolutionary Court sentenced Younesi and Moradi to 16 years in prison on “national security-related charges.”
