An Iranian appeals court has upheld the 16-year prison sentence of two elite Iranian students who were convicted of endangering national security, charges family and rights groups have decried as "ridiculous" and "fictional."
The Telegram channel Emtadad on June 7 quoted Mustafa Nili, the lawyer of the two imprisoned students, confirming the court decision, which includes a sentence for each of at least 10 years in prison.
Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi were arrested in April 2020 and held in detention until April 2022, when a court convicted them of sabotaging public facilities, cooperating with opposition groups, and spreading propaganda against the system. They were handed sentences of 10 years, five years, and one year for the alleged offenses.
The cases have prompted a wave of protests from students and professors at the Sharif University of Technology where they were enrolled.
Last November, Amnesty International said the two detained students had been tortured by Iranian intelligence agents and held "in prolonged solitary confinement in harsh conditions to extract forced confessions.”
Younesi won the gold medal at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in 2018 in China, while Moradi took a silver medal at Iran’s National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017.
