Nasour Taghipour, director of Nasour website, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by the Iranian judiciary for the charge of membership in the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Rahana reports that in his trial, Taghipour adamantly denied membership in HRANA which is an organization with the mission of improving human rights conditions in Iran.
Iranian justice department issued a statement in March of 2009 announcing that HRANA is a front for the People’s Mojahedin Organization, a dissident group which the Islamic Republic considers as one of its arch enemies. The announcement contended that HRANA has "widespread ties" to the US government.
Nasour website carries articles on philosophy, political theory, literature, art and sociology, and Nasour Taghipour, its director, is a communications technology student.
Taghipour was arrested last March at his home in Qazvin by the so-called Cyber team of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran and after 110 days in solitary confinement was released on a $100,000 bail.
Taghipour’s defence team have appealed the sentence and are optimistic about getting a significant reduction in the sentence in the appeals court.
Reporters Without Borders has expressed grave concern over the overt human rights violations committed by the Revolutionary Guards against journalists and bloggers in Islamic Republic prisons.
