Tajbakhsh facing new charges in Iran

Kyan Tajbakhsh

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported new charges of espionage are being laid against Iranian-American scholar Kyan Tajbakhsh by Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The Campaign maintains that: “it seems the Revolutionary Guards are trying to justify the extreme suppression they have commenced since June by creating baseless espionage charges against Tajbakhsh in order to make an exhibition of foreign interference and turn Tajbakhsh into a shield.”

This week, a newly established court accused Kyan Tajbakhsh of espionage because of sending emails to Middle Eastern experts through “Gulf/2000 email list.” The list contains the names of hundreds of experts and journalists from all over the world.

According to the Campaign for Human Rights, this new court appears to have been established by the Revolutionary Guards for the purpose of prosecuting dissidents.

The Campaign condemns the court’s charge of espionage based on subscription to the Gulf/2000 email list emphasizing that Tajbakhsh is “an intellectual who has always avoided politics.”

Kyan Tajbakhsh was arrested in the course of protests to the alleged fraud in Iran’s June presidential elections. He was presented at the infamous mass trial of Iran's post-election detainees this summer.

The human rights group reports that Kyan Tajbakhsh is currently in solitary confinement at Tehran’s Evin prison and in a preliminary hearing, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. They also maintain that he has no access to a self-appointed lawyer and a public attorney has been assigned to him.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urges the authorities to release Tajbakhsh and “all other dissidents and activists who are being abused and unfairly prosecuted.”