The trial of Kurdish singer Mohsen Lorestani was held at Branch 4 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran in absentia, Isna News Agency reported.
In a brief interview with Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), Mohsen Lorestani’s Lawyer Seyed Kazem Hosseini stated that his client’s trial had been held “without his knowledge and presence.”
“At the moment I have no more updates, but there has been a lot of baseless rumours about my client’s status in cyberspace during recent days,“ Hosseini said. Adding that his client was arrested on “Moral Security charges,” and the indictment against him was for his statements in private chats.
There have been a lot of rumours about Loristani’s charges during the recent days of which the KHRN preferred no to mention these accusations due to the lack of explicit confirmation by his lawyer or family and precise information on the court proceedings.
Mohsen Lorestani was arrested at his mother’s house in Saadatabad of Tehran on March 2, 2018, and he has been in temporary custody ever since. He is charged with “spreading corruption on earth,” the punishment for which is death penalty if proven in court.
Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code defines “corrupton earth” as follows; “Any person, who extensively commits felony against the bodily entity of people, offenses against internal or international security of the state, spreading lies, disruption of the economic system of the state, arson and destruction of properties, distribution of poisonous and bacterial and dangerous materials, and establishment of, or aiding and abetting in, places of corruption and prostitution, [on a scale] that causes severe disruption in the public order of the state and insecurity, or causes harsh damage to the bodily entity of people or public or private properties, or causes distribution of corruption and prostitution on a large scale, shall be considered as mofsed-e-fel-arz [corrupt on earth] and shall be sentenced to death.”
