Shayan Houshyar, a researcher, author, and Ph.D. candidate in Iranian history, has been sentenced to three years and eight months of discretionary imprisonment by Branch 1 of the Urmia Revolutionary Court. His lawyer says the verdict was issued solely based on “political analysis, critique of performance, and the expression of alternative viewpoints.”
Masoud Shamsnejad, an attorney at law, criticized the handling of his client’s case in a post published on his Instagram page, writing that in Shayan Houshyar’s file, “there is no violence, no organized action against national security, no organizational ties, no calls for unrest, and not even the slightest practical action against the regime.”
Highlighting Houshyar’s academic background and intellectual activities, Shamsnejad added: “Shayan Houshyar, a researcher and doctoral student of Iranian history, despite being a Turkic speaker, has been one of the few voices in the highly tense atmosphere of West Azerbaijan who, in recent years, has spoken of harmony, coexistence, national unity, the rejection of ethnic extremism, and inter-ethnic dialogue.”
Shamsnejad further noted that the issuance of this verdict raises serious questions regarding the state of freedom of expression and the boundary between critique and national security offenses in Iran. He wrote: “The most dangerous point for any society is when a critic, instead of receiving an answer, is faced with a security case, and an analysis, instead of being critiqued, is deemed a crime.”
