23 , January , 2011
Journalist Ehsan Mehrabi began serving his sentence on Saturday.
Ehsan Mehrabi, a 35 year old journalist, who had been detained and convicted based on unfounded charges, was summoned to the court in Evin Prison today in order to begin serving his one year sentence.
According to RAHANA, Mehrabi who has been a reporter for Etemadeh Melli and Farhikhtegan newspapers and has been a contributor to many reformist publications was detained last February. He was later released on a $50,000 bail after spending 3 months in Ward 209 and Ward 240. He was held in solitary confinement for most of his time in detention and was sentenced to 1 year in prison by Judge Moghayeseh of the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court for anti-regime propaganda by interviewing BBC Persian and RadioFarda.
His sentence was upheld by the 36th branch of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Zargar. Surprisingly, his sentence was immediately confirmed by the appeals court and he was summoned to the executive branch of the court in Evin Prison a few weeks later in order to begin serving his sentence.
He appeared at the court on Saturday based on his summons order and began serving his one year prison term.
The number of imprisoned journalists has risen with the addition of Mehrabi’s name to the list of the detainees who are journalists. Ahmad Zeidabadi, Isa Saharkhiz, Massoud Bastani, Bahman Ahmadi Amouei, Keyvan Samimi, Ali Malihi, Mehdi Mahmoudian along with several other bloggers and journalists are serving their prison terms. Several other journalists are in temporary detention and some have been temporary released on bail.