PhD student in Mashhad arrested to serve prison sentence

Hengaw: Thursday, February 6, 2025

Majid Shi’eh Ali, a resident of Mashhad, was arrested and transferred to Vakilabad Prison after being summoned by the Criminal Enforcement Office and the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office to begin serving his one-year-and-six-month prison sentence.

According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Majid Shi’eh Ali, a PhD student at Islamic Azad University in Mashhad, appeared at Branch 991 of the Sentence Enforcement Office, where he was taken into custody and transferred to Vakilabad Prison to serve his 18-month sentence.

In May 2023, the Mashhad Court of Appeals sentenced Shi’eh Ali to 30 months in prison. However, under the sentence aggregation law, only the most severe sentence—18 months—is enforceable.

Shi’eh Ali was previously arrested in late November 2022 and released on bail in mid-February 2023. During his 56-day detention at Vakilabad Prison, he spent 40 days in solitary confinement at an IRGC Intelligence detention center in Mashhad.

In February 2024, the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced him to a total of six years and six months of discretionary imprisonment on charges of “membership in a group or organization formed within the country with the intent to disrupt national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” and “insulting the leadership.” The charges were based on social media posts related to the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement.