An Iranian court has sentenced activist Hossein Shanbehzadeh to 12 years in prison for “propaganda and other crimes” after he responded with a simple full stop to a message from the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the social media platform X. Shanbehzadeh’s conviction comes amid an intense campaign of repression being perpetrated by the Islamic regime.
“According to the verdict issued by Court 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, [Shanbehzadeh] was sentenced to five years in prison for propaganda in favor of the Zionist regime, four years for insulting the sacred, one year for propaganda against the system and two years and a 50 million rials fine for publishing lies,” the lawyer for the convicted man, Amir Raesian, reported in X.
The lawyer stressed that Shanbehzadeh must serve a five-year sentence, the longest sentence for the crimes he was accused of.
Raesian said they will decide whether to appeal the sentences after speaking with his client.
Shanbehzadeh was arrested and charged with “spying for Israel” in June, days after he responded with a simple full stop to a message on X in which Khamenei posed with the national volleyball team and which was missing the punctuation mark.
That message went viral, garnering more likes, comments and reposts than Khamenei’s original. Shanbehzadeh’s account was suspended shortly thereafter.
Shanbehzadeh is a well-known publisher and activist who for years has criticized the situation in Iran, often with joking messages on social media, which has led him to accumulate almost 100,000 followers on X and to clashes with the justice system controlled by the Islamic regime.
In 2019, the activist was sentenced to six years in prison for criticizing the leader of the Islamic regime, a sentence he did not serve.
Iran has stepped up its crackdown on artists, unveiled women and critics of its policies amid public discontent over its dire economic situation and social tensions.
In May, filmmaker Mohamad Rasoulof fled the country after being sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging and confiscation of his assets in connection with his films.
In June, a revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced cartoonist Atena Farghadani to six years in prison for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and “insulting the sacred” for trying to put up a poster critical of the government in the streets.
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