Iranian of the Day

CPJ: Amouee, a contributor to reformist newspapers such as Mihan, Hamshahri, Jame’e, Khordad, Norooz, and Sharqh, and the author of an eponymous blog, was arrested on June 19, 2009 with his wife, Zhila Bani-Yaghoub, according to news reports. Bani-Yaghoub, editor-in-chief of the Iranian ‎Women’s Club, a news website focusing on women’s rights, was released on bail in August 2009, according to the ‎BBC Persian service.

In January 2010, Amouee was sentenced to 34 lashes, along with seven years and four months in prison. In March of the same year, an appeals court reduced the sentence to five years in prison, according to Rooz Online.

Amouee was being held in Evin Prison, according to news reports, with part of his term served in solitary confinement. In July 2010, Amouee and 14 other prisoners staged a 16-day hunger strike to protest mistreatment at Evin Prison. Prison officials punished them by denying family visits for a month, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

Update: In a recent letter to members of the Iranian Parliament, written from inside Evin prison, Bahman Ahmadi-Amouee has pointed out that what was presented as ‘evidence’ against him in his prosecution are the same accusations of corruption that are now being raised by members of the Majlis against the Ahmadinejad administration, and investigated by the Iranian Judiciary. See the English full text of the letter.

Video: Maziar Bahari's birthday message to Bahman Ahmadi Amouee in prison, May 2011: