One week after Afshin Sheikholeslami‘s arrest by plain-clothes agents from the Ministry of Intelligence his family has not been informed of his whereabouts and fate.
His sister Negin Sheikholeslami Vatani told Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN): “We have not heard from my brother for one week ever since he was arrested at home last week. My parent have made multiple attempts to find him at the Ministry of Intelligence Office and Sanandaj’s judiciary but they have not been able to find him. We don’t know what the charges against him are or where they are holding him.”
According to Iranian Penal Code, the accused must be informed of the charges against him in written format within 24 hours of his arrest and the case must be sent to Iranian judiciary. The family’s right to visit their relatives in prison is also protected under the Iranian law but this law is frequently ignored when the case involves one of the branches of Iranian intelligence agencies.
Mr. Sheikholeslami’s last arrest by the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization had resulted in a three months sentence that due to the spread of coronavirus the case was commuted to one month served imprisonment. In light of that fact Mr. Sheikhoeslami’s sister said given that he has not been officially charged with a crime yet, “We are very worried about him, two years ago Afshin returned to Iran from United States to take care of our sick elderly parents and he’d spend most of his time at home to take care of our parents but after he was arrested last year, he was prohibited from going back to U.S. Even after his case was closed he was still banned from traveling back to U.S.”
Afshin Sheikholeslami Vatani was arrested on June 31, 2020 by Iranian Ministry of Intelligence at his family home. This environmentalist activist was previously arrested in February 2019, alongside a number of other environmentalist activists and members of the Kurdish branch of the National Unity Party which is a legally registered party in Iran. He was subsequently released after one month of imprisonment on a five billion Rial bail. On March 18, 2020 he was sentenced to three months and one day of imprisonment. His sentence alongside four other environmental activists was commuted to the time served due to the spread of COVID-19 in Iranian prisons.
Afshin Sheikholeslami who is a legal U.S. resident has not been able to return home since the second branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj banned his travels outside the country.
In the past Afshin Sheikholeslami Vatani has been detained and interrogated by Iranian regime multiple times. In one occasion he was detained alongside other activists who were present in Habibollah Latifi’s house following an attempt to stop Latifi’s execution. Latifi’s sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment as a result of such human rights defenders activism. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International condemned arrest of Mr. Sheikholeslami and other civil rights activist at that time.