Hossein Shanbehzadeh, an Iranian blogger and activist who has long been in the crosshairs of the Islamic Republic's justice system, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for, among other things, correcting a post on the social network X by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and for alleged pro-Israel propaganda. This was reported by London-based pro-opposition broadcaster Iran International and Shargh News.
According to the TV station, Shanbehzadeh replied with a period to a tweet in which Khamenei posed with the volleyball team and in which that punctuation mark was missing. The reply received more 'likes' than the Supreme Leader's original post, but the activist was arrested a few weeks later in Ardabil. The Iranian judiciary then reported that a "Mossad agent" had been arrested.
Amir Raisian, Shanbehzadeh's lawyer, told Shargh News that his client was sentenced to five years in prison for pro-Israel propaganda, four years for "insulting Islamic sanctities", two years for "lies" and a further year for propaganda against the Islamic Republic. The activist will also have to pay a fine of 50 million toman.
According to the lawyer, Shanbehzadeh intends to appeal the sentence, specifically against the charge of pro-Israel propaganda, which he says "has no specific material basis". Raisian added that this charge is based on the writer's private chats, not public messages. The lawyer then disclosed some of the evidence cited against Shanbehzadeh. These include support for political prisoners, support for the lifting of the obligation to wear the veil, the tweet "no to execution" and expressions of joy at the death in May of then-President Ebrahim Raisi.
