Voices of South Azerbaijan: Tehran Court Sentences Language Activists to Prison Over "Turkish Calendar" Publication

Tehran Court Sentences Language Activists to Prison Over "Turkish Calendar" Publication

Voice of America, July 23, 2018

The Tehran Criminal Court has sentenced Turkish language rights activists Behnam Nurmohammadi, Yasin Erfani, and Mehdi Qamari to six months in prison in connection with the "Turkish Calendar" case.

The HRA agency, which publishes information on human rights violations, reported that the execution of the verdict has been delayed for two years.

According to the information released, the activists were accused of "creating public unrest."

Mehdi Qamari, Behnam Nurmohammadi, and Yasin Erfani

The 1397 (solar) Turkish calendar included images representing Azerbaijani history and Turkish culture, as well as information about historical events and political figures.

The first arrest related to the calendar’s publication took place on March 14. Iranian security forces took Behnam Nurmohammadi into custody at the printing press he worked at in Tehran.

After being interrogated for 3 to 4 weeks in a section of Tehran's Evin prison belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence, he was temporarily released.

Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Türkcə Təqvim hazırlayanlara həbs cəzası

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