Committee of Human Rights Reporters: In his latest interview about the case of Massoud Bastani, Dr. Mohammad Sharif stated that after studying Mr. Bastani’s case, he realized that from the beginning he was allowed bail but nobody was aware of it.
Dr. Sharif commented on the trend of the file of this journalist: “Before Massoud Bastani’s arrest, I was his lawyer. After his wife Mahsa Amrabadi was released, I referred to branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court as well as the court of security to follow up on the case. One day when I wasn’t in Tehran, his wife informed me through a phone call that Massoudi Bastani was taken to court. I was by no means aware of this despite being his lawyer. I did not even have any information regarding which branch of the court was dealing with his case. I eventually referred to branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court to present my letter of attorney. The judge stated that a primitive court ruling had been issued, and therefore we needed to refer to an appeal court, and take the letter of attorney there.”
After taking the file to the appeal court and after Dr. Sharif followed up with the case, he noticed that from the beginning bail was allowed in the case: “The file was taken to the appeal court. I went to them and received the file, and in complete astonishment realized that in his file there was a bail allowance issued from the beginning, and nobody was aware of it. Following this news, his family announced their readiness to pay the bail, but the appeal court asserted that these issues are not related to them.”
The important point in the case of this journalist is that in addition to the fact he was without a lawyer in his hearing, his file was not given to his lawyer to be studied until the time of the appeal court, which resulted in no one noticing the bail allowance. Even now Massoud Bastani is prevented from being released on bail.
Dr. Sharif commented on the latest condition of his client: “I asked the appeal court to arrange a meeting but so far this has been unsuccessful.
Massoud Bastani was deprived of a lawyer in his first hearing, and in his appeal hearing too- the only defense he is allowed is a written defense.
Massoud Bastani is still under arrest despite the fact that he was allowed bail.” Massoud Bastani, journalist and political activist, has been under arrest since the morning of July 5th when he went to the Revolutionary Court to follow up the case of his wife, Mahsa Amrabadi, who had been under arrest for nearly 20 days.
In his hearing without a lawyer, he was sentenced to six years in prison. One year of this prison term is for his allegation of advertising against the regime, and the other five years are for allegations of gathering and collusion with the intention of causing uproar.
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