Ardeshir Fanayian

Ardeshir Fanayian is a Bahai citizen living in Semnan province. He was arrested for his faith and sentenced to prison.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='26067'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> According to IranWire, he was arrested by intelligence officers in Semnan. In this report, it is stated that after inspecting his house and seizing his computer, the officers also took away his religious and family books and photos. According to this report, Shidrokh and Golrokh Firouzian, Ardeshir Fanaiyan's sister and wife, were also arrested and released on bail after some time. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59661'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> According to IranWire, he was released from prison at the end of this month. The report states that he was sentenced to one year in prison sometime later in the primary court for the charge of propaganda against the state. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59664'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> According to IranWire, the appeal court of Semnan province sentenced him to eight months in prison. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59667'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> According to IranWire, the enforcement agents arrested Ardeshir Fanayian on the street without a prior summons and transferred him to Semnan prison to enforce the sentence. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59668'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> He was released at the end of his prison term. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26058'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> Behnam Eskandarian, Ardeshir Fanayian and Yalda Firoozian were arrested in Semnan and sent to the city’s intelligence ministry detention house. Charges of “acting against the Islamic Republic by propaganda and organization” and “membership in an illegal organization against national security” was read against them </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26064'> According to IranWire, “after Fanayian family insisted, the intelligence department allowed Ardeshir Tahtollafz to go meet his father in the hospital but when the security forces took him there, his father had already passed away a few hours before and Ardeshir was only able to meet other members of his family for a few minutes. Ardeshir told his family that, last week, when none of the relatives were around, he had been taken to the hospital to meet with his father. But the late Fanayian didn’t remember this meeting due to severe physical conditions and kept repeating the name of Ardeshir before death and was waiting to meet his prisoner son. Even though the security forces promised to bring Ardeshir for the funeral of his father, this promise was broken and after the meeting in hospital, his family had no contact with him.” Ardeshir’s mother, too, had died in a traffic accident, a short while before his son was arrested. This young Baha’i man was born in prison in the early 1980s when hundreds of citizens, including his parents, had been arrested and imprisoned due to their following of the Baha’i faith” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26063'> He was transferred to Semnan prison </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59672'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yc2dup5u'> According to Iranwire, the first court session of Fanayian and two other Bahai citizens was held in the first branch of Semnan Revolutionary Court. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='27383'> <reference source='https://ipa.united4iran.org/media/file_evidence/Bahaei.pdf'> Ardeshir Fanayian, Behnam Eskandarian and Yalda Firoozian were sentenced to prison by the Branch One of Semnan’s Revolutionary Court. Mr Fanayian got a 10 year discretionary sentence on the charge of “forming and running an opposition group,” one year prison in Khash County and one year of ban from residing in Semnan Province and one year of prison on the charge of “propaganda against the regime”. Ms Firoozian and Mr Eskandarian were convicted of “membership in opposition groups” and sentenced to five years in prison and two years ban of residing in Semnan Province and also convicted of “propaganda against the regime” which led to a discretionary one-year prison sentence. The verdict also says that all their digital devices and their personal belongings related to the case that has been seized by Semnan’s intelligence authorities will be confiscated according to Article 215 of Islamic Penal code. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26065'> According to Iranwire, Behnam Eskandarian and Ardeshir Fanayian are kept in Semnan’s Central Prison in a cell separated from other prisoners </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='27644'> Rohan Jazbani, Ardeshir Fanayian’s aunt, confirmed some points previously registered in the IPA and also asked for an independent group to assess the case </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='28014'> <reference source='https://www.kampain.info/archive/40436.htm'> According to Political and Civil Prisoners defending Campaign, Semnan city Appeal court reduced the sentences of Ardeshir Fanaian, Behnam Eskandarian, and Yalda Firouzian to six years, three years and six months, and two years and six months, respectively </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='32234'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-26343/'> He was released on furlough for a few days </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='48325'> <reference source='http://rlu.ru/3dIeq'> IranWIre reported that although he is qualified for the pardon and the judge has approved of it, he is still in prison due to Intelligence Ministry's opposition". According to IranWire: "Initially someone from the judge's office called him and told him that he has qualified for pardon, but they need to clear it with another agency. After the family went to the courthouse, they were told that he does not fit the bill for the pardon. IranWire reported that his family went to Tehran to follow up on his case. After visiting the courthouse, they were told by authorities that their son is qualified for the pardon. But when they went back to Semnan, the judge once again rejected their right. The judge said the decision for his release will be made by the Intelligence Ministry. After several follow-up meetings with the prosecutor in Semnan, he told them that Ardeshir is qualified for the pardon, but won't be released without an order from Intelligence Ministry. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='49868'> <reference source='https://rb.gy/ridq'> IranWire published a report that he and a number of other Bahai citizens spent Nowruz 2023 in prison and were denied leave during these days. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59657'> <reference source='https://www.radiozamaneh.info/806729'> He went on leave. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59655'> <reference source='https://www.radiozamaneh.info/806729'> According to Zamaneh, he is serving his six-year sentence in solitary confinement. According to this report, the prosecutor of Semnan, Mohammad Taghi Goli, refuses to follow up on the situation of Ardeshir Fanaian and to grant him leave. In this report, quoting a source, it is stated that Ardeshir Fanaiyan was locked up in solitary confinement under false pretenses, and despite the request of other security prisoners of Semnan prison to have him in the same ward, the officials refused to do so. According to the source of "Radio Zamaneh", in the last follow-ups of the family to request leave and try to end Ardeshir Fanaian's years of solitary confinement, the prosecutor opened the law book and said that the decision for leave rests with him alone, and then he aggressively told Golrokh Firouzian, Ardeshir Fanayian's wife that "I don't want to give your husband any leave at all". In the following, it is stated that his wife, reminding the prosecutor that he is "the public prosecutor and the representative of the community", once again raised her requests with the prosecutor. In response, the prosecutor has clearly stated that "I am the representative of the public, but I am not your representative" and in an insulting and disrespectful manner, he has emphasized that "I am not on the side of your husband, but completely against Ardeshir Fanayian." </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59650'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2024/hranews/a-47715/'> According to HRANA, he went on leave for five days. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='59658'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2024/hranews/a-47715/'> According to HRANA, Ardeshir Fanaiyan has been kept separately from other prisoners since the beginning of his imprisonment, and the prison authorities have provided him with solitary confinement. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>