Persian2English – This is Emad Bahavar. Today is his 34th birthday (June 28). He is held in the notorious Evin prison in ward 350; the location where prisoners have been heavily deprived of their basic rights since summer 2010. He was among the 12 political prisoners recently on hunger strike to protest the deaths of Haleh Sahabi and Hoda Saber.
He has been arrested four times following the results of the disputed 2009 Iranian Presidential election.
Emad Bahavar is the head of the youth branch of the pro-democracy group Freedom Movement of Iran (Nehzat-e Azadi). He earned an Industrial Engineering degree from Yazd University and was also a political science graduate studies student at the University of Babol before he was banned from writing his thesis paper. Emad Bahavar will still be banned from his graduate studies upon his release from prison.
The political activist was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the charges of “Assembly and conspiracy against national security,” “Spreading propaganda against the regime,” and “Insulting the Supreme Leader”.
In January 2011, the Appeals Court upheld the 10-year prison sentence and a 10-year ban from political activities, membership in parties, and access to the cyber world.
