Free Iranian Music Distributors Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and Yousef Emadi

UPDATE APRIUL 7, 2017--Music producers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian returned to Evin Prison in Tehran on April 4, 2017 after their request for an extension of their seven-day temporary leave was denied by the judiciary, an informed source told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
“The only change in the new year was that we walked uphill with new shoes,” said a note on Mehdi Rajabian’s Instagram page on April 6 under a photo of the brothers outside the prison. “Incarceration resumes. Goodbye.”
The request for an extension of their furlough was primarily for Mehdi Rajabian’s need for medical treatment, said the source.
“The medical examiner has confirmed that Mehdi is suffering from multiple sclerosis and we have sent the diagnosis to the court, which should rule that he’s not physically fit to be in prison or at least allow him to receive treatment in a hospital outside the prison,” added the source.
Furlough, temporary leave typically granted to prisoners in Iran for a variety of familial, holiday, and medical reasons, is routinely denied to political prisoners as a form of additional punishment.
The brothers and Yousef Emadi were managing partners of the now banned Barg Music, a popular digital music production and distribution service, when they were arrested by the Revolutionary Guard’s Intelligence Organization on October 5, 2013.
They were charged with allegedly distributing underground music without a permit, working with female singers (prohibited from singing solo in Iran), and collaborating with “anti-revolutionary” Iranian musicians in exile.
In a trial that lasted only 15 minutes, Judge Mohammad Moghisseh of Branch 21 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced the three to six years in prison each in May 2015 for “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state.”
Their sentence was reduced to three years in prison each upon appeal. They began serving it in June 2016.
Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian went on hunger strike in October 2016 for several weeks to protest the authorities’ continued refusal to provide them proper medical treatment, and the decision to separate them in different wards in Evin Prison.
The source told CHRI that the brothers had asked the warden to put them back in the ward for political prisoners after they were harassed and beaten by inmates in wards for non-political prisoners, but they have received no response.
According to Article 8 of Iran’s State Prisons Organization’s regulations, “All convicts, upon being admitted to walled prisons or rehabilitation centers, will be separated based on the type and duration of their sentence, prior record, character, morals and behavior in accordance with decisions made by the Prisoners Classification Council.”
SOURCE: Center For Human Rights In Iran
https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/04/music-producers-returned-to-evin-prison-after-request-for-extended-medical-furlough-denied/
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URGENT UPDATE NOVEMBER 15, 2016--BROTHERS MEHDI AND HOSSEIN RAJABIAN ON PRISON HUNGER STRIKES, LIVES AT RISK!

Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian began a joint hunger strike on October 28, 2016. The brothers, who began serving a three-year prison sentence in June 2016 for allegedly distributing underground music, are demanding medical furlough (temporary leave) and being returned to the same prison ward they were initially placed together in at Evin Prison. On November 13 Mehdi Rajabian was transferred to the hospital after his health seriously deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike.

“The condition of both brothers has gotten worse since they began the hunger strike,” an informed source told the Campaign. “Hossein has a severe lung infection. He was in the hospital for five days before starting the hunger strike and doctors had said then that he needs further treatment. Mehdi is suffering from an illness similar to multiple sclerosis—it’s not clear. He has become very weak and can walk only with a cane.”
SOURCE: International Campaign For Human Rights in Iran
https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/11/prisoners-of-conscience-on-hunger-strike/

URGENT UPDATE SEPTEMBER 8, 2016--Brothers Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian have launched a prison hunger strike to protest illegal medical neglect.

March 1, 2016--Three music distributors have each been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 200 million rials (approximately $6,600 USD) for “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state” by a Tehran appeals court.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were under intense pressure to make televised “confessions,” the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned.

Televised forced “confessions” in politically motivated cases, often extracted under the threat of or actual torture, are a common practice in Iran.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and filmmaker Yousef Emadi—all managers of BargMusic, one of the largest online producers and distributors of underground music in Iran since its launch in 2009—were sentenced by Judge Hassan Babaei of Branch 54 of Tehran’s Appeals Court. The court also sentenced them to a three-year suspended prison term.

The source told the Campaign that Judge Babaei described BargMusic as an agent of “social corruption” and accused its founder, Mehdi Rajabian, of ignoring 90 warnings for promoting illegal music, including songs by female singers. The judge also accused the three defendants of having contact with “political and anti-revolutionary” singers abroad.

“At the time of his arrest Mehdi Rajabian was recording the history of the setar [string instrument] in Iran. They confiscated all his work on hard drives when his personal music studio was shut down. Hossein Rajabian was also arrested when he had just finished his first film. They took away everything associated with the film, which was made with permission,” said the source.

The Appeals Court hearing, attended by a representative of the Revolutionary Guards, took place on December 22, 2015.

The sentence is final and has been passed on for enforcement, a source told the Campaign. The three are currently free on bail.

They were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization on October 5, 2013 and held for two months in solitary confinement at the Intelligence Organization-controlled Ward 2-A of Evin Prison.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were initially sentenced to six years in prison and fined two billion rials (about $66,650 USD) in May 2015 by Judge Mohammad Moghisseh of Branch 21 of the Revolutionary Court in a trial that lasted only 15 minutes.

SOURCE: International Campaign For Human Rights In Iran

Three music distributors have each been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 200 million rials (approximately $6,600 USD) for “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state” by a Tehran appeals court.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were under intense pressure to make televised “confessions,” the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned.

Televised forced “confessions” in politically motivated cases, often extracted under the threat of or actual torture, are a common practice in Iran.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and filmmaker Yousef Emadi—all managers of BargMusic, one of the largest online producers and distributors of underground music in Iran since its launch in 2009—were sentenced by Judge Hassan Babaei of Branch 54 of Tehran’s Appeals Court. The court also sentenced them to a three-year suspended prison term.

The source told the Campaign that Judge Babaei described BargMusic as an agent of “social corruption” and accused its founder, Mehdi Rajabian, of ignoring 90 warnings for promoting illegal music, including songs by female singers. The judge also accused the three defendants of having contact with “political and anti-revolutionary” singers abroad.

“At the time of his arrest Mehdi Rajabian was recording the history of the setar [string instrument] in Iran. They confiscated all his work on hard drives when his personal music studio was shut down. Hossein Rajabian was also arrested when he had just finished his first film. They took away everything associated with the film, which was made with permission,” said the source.

The Appeals Court hearing, attended by a representative of the Revolutionary Guards, took place on December 22, 2015.

The sentence is final and has been passed on for enforcement, a source told the Campaign. The three are currently free on bail.

They were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization on October 5, 2013 and held for two months in solitary confinement at the Intelligence Organization-controlled Ward 2-A of Evin Prison.

Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were initially sentenced to six years in prison and fined two billion rials (about $66,650 USD) in May 2015 by Judge Mohammad Moghisseh of Branch 21 of the Revolutionary Court in a trial that lasted only 15 minutes.

December 11, 2015--A Revolutionary Court in Tehran handed down prison sentences to three Iranian artists on charges of “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the regime” two years after they were initially arrest.

In early December, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh sentenced musician Mehdi Rajabian, founder of the alternative music website BargMusic, Yousef Emadi, manager of BargMusic, and Mehdi Rajabian’s brother, Hossein Rajabian, an independent filmmaker and photographer, to five years’ imprisonment for the insult charge and a further one year for propaganda.

Revolutionary Guards arrested the three on October 12, 2013 in the northern city of Sari. They were detained at Evin Prison’s Ward 2A, which is under control of the Guards. Before his arrest, Mehdi Rajabian was in the process of recording a musical history of Iran. Guards searched his studio and confiscated his recordings. His brother Hossein Rajabian was arrested after making his first feature film, which was confiscated, despite the fact that authorities had issued approval for the project.

Emadi and the Rajabian brothers were released on a bail of around $67,000 each after spending two months in solitary confinement. During their time in detention, they were reportedly pressured to confess to their crimes.

The accused were never taken back into custody after the release, though the case was ongoing and heard earlier this week.

They launched an appeal against the decision, which is now making its way through Branch 54 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Hasan Babaee. Human rights group have repeatedly accused both Babaee and Moghiseh of violating the human rights of Iranian defendants.

The 2013 arrests made international news, leading to more than 400 journalists, musicians and cinema artists to sign a letter calling for their release. Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, cited them in his list of political prisoners at the time.