The mother of Iranian journalist and human rights activist Abolfazl Abedini says he has been sentenced to 11 years in jail, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.
Abedini, a member of the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Activists in Iran, was arrested on March 3 in the southwestern city of Ahvaz after his home was raided.
His family said he was beaten by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as he was taken away.
Abedini's mother, Asareh Eyvazi, told Radio Farda that her son's lawyer, Mohammad Olyaeefard, informed her about the sentence. Abedini had been found guilty of "spreading propaganda against the regime through interviews with foreign media."
Eyvazi said she recently wrote an open letter to judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani demanding justice for her son. She says she has received no reply.
"What crime has my son committed that he deserves to be tortured?" Eyvazi wrote in her letter to Larijani. "Is it a crime to defend the rights of workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Factory, Tehran bus company workers, or the Iranian Teachers Syndicate?"
Abedini, 28, has been detained by security forces several times over the past five years.
Abedini, a member of the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Activists in Iran, was arrested on March 3 in the southwestern city of Ahvaz after his home was raided.
His family said he was beaten by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps as he was taken away.
Abedini's mother, Asareh Eyvazi, told Radio Farda that her son's lawyer, Mohammad Olyaeefard, informed her about the sentence. Abedini had been found guilty of "spreading propaganda against the regime through interviews with foreign media."
Eyvazi said she recently wrote an open letter to judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani demanding justice for her son. She says she has received no reply.
"What crime has my son committed that he deserves to be tortured?" Eyvazi wrote in her letter to Larijani. "Is it a crime to defend the rights of workers at the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Factory, Tehran bus company workers, or the Iranian Teachers Syndicate?"
Abedini, 28, has been detained by security forces several times over the past five years.
