Imprisonment and Whipping: Pan-Turkists Supporting Azerbaijan Sentenced in Iran

Azadlıq Qəzeti has reported on its Facebook page that western activists (specifically, Iranian Azerbaijanis) have been arrested for supporting Azerbaijan. According to infoteka24, the Azerbaijani activists were detained in Iran for backing Azerbaijan during its onslaught against Artsakh.

The activists were apprehended during a protest in front of the Azerbaijani consulate in Tabriz. Yasmin Zofuri, Hakim Ahmad, Sadula Sasani, Rahim Sasani, and Mehdi Pural have been sentenced to one year in prison and 60 lashes.

As reported by the Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq, the Ardabil criminal court sentenced “national activists” Meysam Cholani and Ali Sheyrji to four years in prison and 20 lashes for participating in protests between September and October.

It has also been noted that in Urmia, “national activist” Salar Tahir Afshar was sentenced to three years in prison for similar reasons. The official reason for the activists' arrests is the violation of public order and disobedience to the orders of a public servant.

Earlier, it was reported that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, specifically the “Imam Zaman” unit, arrested the mayor of Urmia, Mohamad Hazratpour. He was taken to Tehran for interrogation. According to circulating rumors, the mayor is being accused of corruption.

In recent months, other community staff members have also been arrested. According to Azariha, back in 2019, the mayor was involved in a scandal when he spoke Turkish during a municipal meeting, prompting a Kurdish member of the city council to demand that he speak in the state language. The incident received significant media attention and Hazratpour was accused of ethnic discrimination and neglecting Persian.