Imprisoned music producer Yousef Emadi was punished for three weeks by being moved to a quarantine ward and being denied family contact for arguing with a guard at Evin Prison. He is also facing a new charge, an informed source told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Emadi has been held in the prison in Tehran for more than a year while his two co-defendants—Mehdi Rajabian and Hossein Rajabian—have been released on bail pending case reviews.

“On July 31, Yousef was following up on his request to move to Ward 350 when an argument seems to have taken place with one of the guards and he returned to his cell,” a source close to the Emadi family told CHRI on August 11, 2017.

“A few hours later he was summoned to the prison warden’s office and never came back,” said the source, who spoke to CHRI on condition of anonymity. “His cellmates sent a message that he had been transferred to the quarantine section in Ward 4 as punishment.”

New inmates are brought to Evin Prison’s Ward 4 to get their health checked before they are sent to a permanent cell.

Emadi was moved back to the prison’s general ward 8, which houses common criminals, on August 12. His ongoing requests to be moved to Ward 350, which houses political prisoners, have been repeatedly denied by the authorities.

The source close to Emadi’s family also told CHRI that the reason for his continued incarceration was likely connected to a new charge brought against him.

“He has been charged with ‘propaganda against state’ for contacting foreign media from inside prison and his case has been sent to Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court,” said the source.

Emadi was a co-defendant with fellow music producers Mehdi Rajabian and Hossein Rajabian in a case brought by the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against BargMusic, their underground digital music distribution company.

In May 2015, they were sentenced by Branch 21 of the Revolutionary Court to six years in prison each for “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state.” The Appeals Court changed their sentences to three years in prison each in addition to a three-year suspended prison term.

After serving a year in Evin Prison, the Rajabian brothers were granted temporary release on June 22, 2017 while their case is reviewed. Emadi, however, has been kept behind bars.

Source » iranhumanrights