Political Prisoner's Father Sentenced to Five Years In Prison
Tehran's Revolutionary Court has handed down a five-year prison sentence to Mir-Yousef Younesi, the father of a political prisoner, after more than a year of temporary detention.
Tehran's Revolutionary Court has handed down a five-year prison sentence to Mir-Yousef Younesi, the father of a political prisoner, after more than a year of temporary detention.
The verdict has sparked outcry as it was delivered in his absence, with allegations of his refusal to wear prison uniform.
Reza, Younesi's son, took to Twitter on Tuesday to express his frustration, revealing that his father was denied the right to be present in court. The court session proceeded despite objections from his lawyers regarding the "lack of presentation of any evidence by the ministry of intelligence," which were reportedly disregarded.
Younesi was detained on December 28, 2022, in Shahroud, with the ministry of intelligence accusing him of "financial ties with the exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK)."
His family has vehemently contested the charges, asserting that Younesi is an employee engaged in legitimate commercial transactions. The case is purportedly centered around a payment of 130 million rials.
Reza further alleged that the intelligence authorities were well aware of his father's lack of connection to the case's narrative but implicated him as an act of revenge.
Another son, Ali Younesi, a gold medalist from the International Astronomy Olympiad, was arrested in 2020 alongside Amir-Hossein Moradi. Both were subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges including "corruption on earth," "propaganda against the system," and "conspiracy and collusion with the aim of acting against national security."
Abolishing the hijab on January 17, 1936, was only one aspect of the modernization attempts by Reza Shah Pahlavi the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. He not only freed Iranian women from hijab, but he also paved the way for them to be active members of society as teachers, government officials, nurses, and highly educated professionals.
Later in the dynasty's rule, Iranian women gained the right to vote and run for parliament, preceding many countries in granting women equal rights. However, the modernization of women and changes in their lifestyles were significantly reversed with the ascent of fundamentalist Shiite clerics to power in Iran in 1979.
In a statement released on the occasion, Farah Pahlavi praised Reza Shah for helping Iranian women to shine and “to free them from the dungeons of prejudice." She said the occasion is a landmark in the evolution of Iranian women's modern identity, adding that "many Iranian women today praise the two kings of the Pahlavi dynasty without even having lived in their period." The women, she said, demand Iran's return to the track of progress of that period.
Farah Pahlavi, characterized the current regime of Iran as "evil" and reiterated that "Finally, light will overcome darkness and Iran will be back on the track to freedom, welfare, and progress."
The modernization process initiated by Reza Shah in the 1920s propelled Iran from the depths of the Middle Ages into the modern world. Women became active and productive members of Iranian society in this evolving nation, as people transitioned from carts to trains and enrolled in newly established universities to acquire modern skills, bringing the country in line with the rapidly developing global landscape.
A modern justice system brought an end to clerical rule, limiting their involvement to solemnizing marriages and divorces, which still required registration at the Judiciary offices.
One of the initial actions taken by the Islamic regime after 1979 was the imposition of compulsory hijab on women. This was done to facilitate the suppression of women in society and symbolize the reversal of the modernization efforts initiated during the Pahlavi era.
Later, the clerics established their domination on the judicial system by replacing judges with clergymen who often were not trained to handle judicial cases. The law ceased to exist, and every decision was left to arbitrary ruling by clerics who often came from small villages.
Meanwhile, the destruction of the academic system persists as the regime dismisses university professors and replaces them with regime insiders loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Many officials bestow upon each other the title of "doctor," often without having completed high school. It was even exposed during televised presidential election debates in 2021 that Ebrahim Raisi, who later became president, had only received an elementary education, yet he holds the title of "Ayatollah, Doctor Raisi."
The suppression of women is one of the most elaborate examples of how the Iranian regime works. In early January, Roya Heshmati, an Iranian woman presented a dramatic account of how she was given 74 lashes for not wearing hijab. As her story went viral on social media, the regime tried to deny her account. Interestingly, tens of other women came out to tell their stories about being lashed in previous weeks and months.
Critics say that hijab is the Islamic regime's last trench to defend its existence and Islamic identity as it has lost its Islamic credential after major financial corruptions were disclosed. Nonetheless, the Islamic Republic ruthlessly cracks down on women who defy the compulsory hijab using the ‘morality police’ and the IRGC's Basij militia, while also passing laws to enforce hijab with the motto "Cover or suffer." Particularly, since the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom movement, many women have been suffering in jail and receiving lashes as religious punishment, although sharia scholars say there is very little if any about compulsory hijab and its punishment in the Quran.
