A Dublin-based Iranian woman has raised alarm over the safety of political prisoners in Iran, after losing contact with her brother who was recently removed from Tehran’s Evin Prison and taken to an unknown location.
Aida Younesi, 31, a software engineer living in Dublin, said her brother Ali, 25, was taken from his cell on Wednesday by unidentified men who claimed he was being brought in for questioning. Since then, the family has received no information about his whereabouts.
Ali Younesi, a university student at the time of his arrest in 2020, was sentenced in 2022 to 16 years in prison along with his friend Amirhossein Moradi. The charges included “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,” “spreading propaganda against the system,” and “destruction of public property.” Amnesty International has said these charges stemmed in part from the families’ alleged or perceived connections to an exiled opposition group.
According to Amnesty International, Iran’s judicial system routinely denies fair trials, with political detainees often subjected to arbitrary arrest, denial of legal counsel, coerced confessions under torture, and rushed court proceedings.
Ms. Younesi is urging the international community to pay closer attention to the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, particularly amid growing regional instability.