Iranian reformist leader Mostafa Tajzadeh sentenced to eight years in prison
In the midst of a wave of demonstrations that is putting the Iranian dictatorship in check for the first time in 43 years, Maostafa Tajzadeh's sentence of eight years in prison has been confirmed. The former minister and former adviser to Mohammad Khatami during the last years of his presidency has decided not to appeal and to serve his sentence in full. The reformist was arrested by the authorities on 8 July this year and his trial began on 13 August after he was denied permission to consult privately with his lawyer, which accelerated the process.
Houshang Pourbabai, Tajzadeh's lawyer, has made public on his Twitter account both his client's decision not to appeal the court's conviction and the charges that will see him spend the next eight years in prison: "My client Mostafa Tajzadeh was sentenced to five years for conspiring against state security, two years for publishing lies and one year for propaganda against the system". In addition, Iran's reformist leader refused to defend himself during the trial.
Tajzadeh is due to enter prison at the age of 65 and after serving in the Khatami government and later attempting to run on a reform platform in last year's elections. However, after reviewing his application, the Guardian Council rejected his request and prevented his registration. Notably, Mostafa Tajzadeh has already spent seven years in prison following months of nationwide protests after the 2009 elections that led to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second term in office. Since then, Tajzadeh has been one of the most prominent representatives of Iranian discontent, being one of the most prominent critics of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and, since the last elections, of President Ebrahim Raisi.
Among many of his criticisms were those of "Internet blockades", "costly and pro-Russian foreign policy driven by anti-Americanism" and "interference by the military in politics, the economy and elections". Already in July, when he was arrested, Mostafa Tajzadeh said he had been arrested in an "illegal" action by Iranian intelligence. This is what he said in a letter to the supreme leader sent a few weeks ago, according to Radio Farda.
The sentence comes at one of the most unstable times in Iran's history since the arrival of the Ayatollahs, whose days could be numbered. Tehran sees how the protests continue despite the harsh repression with which the Iranian security forces are responding, and they have already shown the first signs of weakness, opening the door to a possible dialogue with the demonstrators, something impossible to imagine on previous occasions. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, president of Iran's Supreme Court and one of Khamenei's strongmen, said that Iranians "must know that we have an ear to listen to protests and criticism, and we are ready for dialogue".
These statements come at a time when optimism is beginning to surface among the Iranian people who see a window of opportunity to end more than four decades of dictatorship. Proof of the price that society is willing to pay is reflected in the latest report issued today, Wednesday, by the Iranian Centre for Human Rights, which states that "at least 201 people died in four weeks of protests in Iran", 23 of whom are children. The same document reports "bloody repression of protesters and residents of Kurdistan", where Mahsa Amini was from, whose murder opened the floodgates of protests that should end the suffering of an entire country.