Mehdi Nik Ahd

Mehdi Nik Ahd is a journalist and political activist in Arak. He is a senior member of the Etedal Tose'e Party and editor-in-chief of "Nameh Amir" magazine. After participating in a ceremony at the grave of Mehrshad Shahidi, one of the victims of the 2022 uprising, he was arrested and sentenced to prison.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='57746'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/4vm48852'> A group of Arak citizens visited the grave of Mehrshad Shahidi, one of the victims of the 2022 uprising in Arak to honor his memory. According to Shargh Network, on this day, which coincided with the religious "Tasua" day, the participants chanted "Mehrshad may your soul be happy" and applauded the speeches of Mehrshad's family members. According to this report, after this ceremony, the state TV called for the punishment of people whose crime was protesting on the grave of Mehrshad Shahidi. According to this report, the Islamic Propaganda Organization also released a statement requesting severe punishment from the judiciary. In part of its statement, this organization invited the people of Arak to hold a protest rally. In addition, the political-security and social deputy of the governorate and the head of justice of the Markazi province had a joint meeting and in separate statements published by the IRNA emphasized that "the perpetrators of desecration and violation of Tasuai day were in the Arak cemetery will be dealt with and it would be decisive and without appeasement." </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57747'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/yrtrzm4n'> According to HRANA, the prosecutor of Arak announced the arrest of several citizens for what was called the "desecration of the third imam of Shiites" and "removing hijab in the Arak mausoleum". According to this report, Rabiollah Ghorbani said: > These people were identified by the security agencies, some of them are arrested and some are wanted." Shargh Network's report stated that all 9 accused in the "Arak Mausoleum Case spent almost a month in detention. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57748'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/3ajnahbv'> According to Iranwire, Abdolmehdi Mousavi, the Chief Justice of Markazi Province, announced the issuance of summons to trial and indictment for 9 defendants in the case of "desecrating Tasua day in Arak". He mentioned the charges against these people as sacrilege, assembly and collusion to disrupt internal security, and propaganda against the system, and claimed: > The other charge of some of the detainees is possession of narcotics. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57749'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/3ajnahbv'> According to IranWire, the hearing of the case of 9 of the detainees in Mehrshad Shahidi's trial was held virtually in the first branch of the Arak Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Oliaei (Oliyaee) and the fifth branch of the Arak Criminal Court headed by Judge Parsafar. According to this report, the court of these people was held without the presence of a lawyer and without prior notice. In this report, it is stated that the court session of these people was held while they were informed a day earlier that their trial will be held on August 22 and August 23. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57750'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2023/hranews/a-43308/'> According to HRANA, all the defendants in the case, except Maryam Bostani, were sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 105 of the Arak Criminal Court-2 for the charge of sacrilege, and to one year in prison and 74 lashes for the charge of disturbing public peace and order. According to the judge issuing the ruling, the lashing sentence must be executed "in the mosque of Arak, after Friday prayers and in public". This report states that three years of the five-year prison sentence for Majid Nik Ahd, Mehdi Nik Ahd, and Vahid Reza Arabi have been suspended. Shargh Network's report stated that the court also exiled the defendants of this case to the cities of Delfan, Kalibar, Khormouj, Garmi, Qidar, Borazjan, Haris and Keliai respectively for a period of two years. According to this report, they have also been banned for two years from any activity in cyberspace under their own names or aliases. Also, according to HRANA's report, these citizens were previously sentenced to eight months in prison in another part of their case by the Arak Revolutionary Court on charges of propaganda activity against the state. Hossein Rezaei, one of the lawyers of the case, further said that all the clients except Mr. Soltani have been released by depositing bail and are waiting for the acceptance of the excess bail for the release of Mr. Mohammad Soltani. According to this lawyer, new documents were found regarding Mohammad Soltani and Ramtin Edrisi, which led to a new case with a new subject in the 6th branch of Arak investigation. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57758'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/ycke4epx'> Referring to the details of the case, Mehdi Nik Ahd told "Iran Watch": > Since the beginning of this incident, what has cast a shadow on the judicial process is the unrealistic details of the opposition's media propaganda, which was caused by our legitimate political activities within the existing frameworks. Some with malice tried to divert public opinion and influence the investigating institutions. He added: > For example, the official media broadcasted a biased report and tied some unrelated events to the reason for our presence in the cemetery and our expression of sympathy. Subsequently, the few people who are among the most radical figures fueled it online and tried to confuse everyone, while that ceremony and our presence for a few minutes were completely peaceful without the slightest breaking of the norm or even expressing our political opinion. It did not warrant such a treatment in any way. Majid Nik Ahd also said in the interview: > From the moment of arrest, inappropriate measures were taken in relation to what happened in the cemetery, and the bail order announced by the investigator was not accepted, and despite the fact that our bails were ready, it was announced that we were unable to post bail. And that's why we remained in detention. He continued: > This detention for about a month was very heavy for all of us. In addition, the heavy bail of 12 billion Rials, which was issued for being at the grave site, was disproportional compared to other high-profile cases in the country. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='57751'> <reference source='https://tinyurl.com/4vm48852'> In a report about the case known as "Arak Mausoleum", Shargh Network wrote that this case is being processed in the 15th branch of appeals of Arak Province. Mohammad Reza Moghadam, one of the case's lawyers, in an interview with Shargh Network, stated that the detainees in this case were denied the right to access a lawyer even after the preliminary investigation and during the trial stage. Explaining the details of the hearing and criticizing the lack of attention to the laws, he asked the head of the judiciary to intervene in the case in order to prevent the violation of the rights of his clients. Hossein Rezaei, another lawyer for the defendants in the Arak Mausoleum case, rejected the accusation of his client's attempt at sacrilege and said: > How can handshakes and saying the phrase "May your soul be happy and the distribution of punch and dates in a tomb that is outside the city be interpreted as insulting the third Imam? In addition, my clients have been accused of disturbing the public order for such acts and have been sentenced to prison, while the mausoleum is not considered a crowded public place so their actions cannot cause a disturbance of the public order in that environment. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>