MEPs condemn death sentence on Iranian political prisoner Davoodi

                   

NCRI- European lawmakers have strongly condemned a death sentence passed against Iranian political prisoner Arzhang Davoodi and called on the Iranian regime to spare his life.

Mr Davoodi, 61, was jailed 11 years ago for founding anti-government groups and insulting the clerical regime's leaders.

He was also sentenced to 74 lashes and five years deprivation of social rights, and more than a decade of torture, repeated hunger strikes and lack of medical care means he has lost much of his vision and hearing.

His lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah was also arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 9 years in prison after turning up in a court in Tehran to defend Mr Davoodi, an engineer who graduated from University of Texas, and now being held in a prison in the city of Bandar-Abbas.

A statement by the European Parliament inter-parliamentary group Friends of a Free Iran said: "During the last 12 month of Hassan Rouhani’s 'moderate' presidency, an estimated 800 prisoners have been executed, many hanged in public.

"We call on Baroness Ashton, European governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to strongly condemn the death sentence of Mr. Arzhang Davoodi and to have this sentence revoked."