Hashem Khastar Was Arrested to Carry Out His Sentence

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Khastar, an engineer, was illegally arrested and sent to Mashhad Prison to serve his two-year suspended sentence. Human Rights Activists News Agency: Hashem Khastar, an engineer, was illegally arrested and sent to Mashhad Prison to serve his two-year suspended sentence. The Industrial Unit of the Human Rights Activists in Iran reported that, last month, Mr. Hashem Khastar, a retired educator and a member of Teachers Union, was sentenced to a six-year suspended detention after a hearing at the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad. He was charged with political and ideological allegations, all of which h vehemently had denied. On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, the Security Forces tasked with carrying out his sentence arrested him in front of his own residence and transferred him to the said Court in what appeared to be an illegal process. Mr. Khastar spent the first evening of his arrest at Mashhad's "Detention Center for Battling Social Corruption" and was subsequently transferred on Thursday to Mashhad's Central Prison. This transfer did not follow proper legal procedures since the allegations leveled against Mr. Khastar have been without cause, and the appeals court's decision sentencing him instead to a two-year suspended sentence was improperly communicated to him.