Kurdish poet and writer Naser Hemmati in Andanan charged with “Blasphemy Against the Prophet”
Hengaw: Thursday, December 5, 2024
Naser Hemmati, a psychiatrist, writer, poet, and Kurdish civil activist residing in Abdanan, a district in Ilam Province, has been charged with “blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam” and “propaganda in support of the Zionist state” following a summons to the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Abdanan. These charges carry potentially severe penalties.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Naser Hemmati was recently summoned to the First Investigation Branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Abdanan on charges of “blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam,” “insulting Khamenei,” “spreading false information via social media,” “propaganda against the state,” and “propaganda to support and strengthen the Zionist state.” Following his arrest, he was temporarily released on bail set at one billion tomans until the end of the judicial proceedings.
It is noteworthy that in recent years, this individual has been repeatedly questioned and threatened by security agencies due to his online activities. His recent summons on these charges comes despite the fact that he has not been active on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) since 2021.
In 2019, Naser Hemmati was arrested by security forces for publishing a series of posts on Twitter supporting the November 2019 protests and calling on people to participate in a commemoration ceremony on December 26.
Additionally, on August 10, 2021, Hemmati was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan to two years of imprisonment on charges of “insulting Khamenei.” While serving this sentence, he was handed an additional one-year prison term in a separate case for “propaganda against the state.”
Hemmati is also the translator of several books on psychotherapy and the author of a book titled Prison Notes, a collection of 103 daily journal entries from his time in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan. This book was published outside Iran in 2021 by Runak Publications.
