Additional Name(s): علیاکبر داداشی
Gender: Male
Perpetrator: Iran
Religion or Belief: Muslim – Sufi
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: Yes
Appeal: Reduced to 2 Years' Imprisonment
Sentence: Originally 5 Years' Imprisonment
Date of Detainment: February//2018
Date of Release: February/8/2020
Current Status: Released
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Imprisonment
Reason for Persecution: Protesting Religious Freedom Conditions Religious Association
Nature of Charges: Illegal Assembly Public Disorder
Ali Akbar Dadashi was imprisoned for his religious association and for protesting religious freedom conditions.
In February 2018, authorities arrested Dadashi following a violent crackdown on people protesting the arrest of Nematollah Riahi. Riahi, a member of the Sufi Gonabadi Order, had come to Tehran earlier in February to participate in a sit-in protesting the house arrest of spiritual leader Noor Ali Tabandeh. Dadashi was reportedly charged with "assembling and colluding to act against national security" (Art. 610 IPC) and "disrupting public order" (Art. 618 IPC). Following his arrest, Dadashi was reportedly denied access to a lawyer.
Later in 2018, Dadashi was reportedly sentenced to six years in prison and 74 lashes. Dadashi was expected to serve five years in prison as the sentences ran concurrently.
At an unknown date, an appeals court reportedly reduced Dadashi's sentence to two years in prison.
In September 2018, it was reported that Dadashi was participating in a hunger strike demanding an end to Tabandeh's house arrest, the release of female Gonabadi Sufi prisoners, and for all Gonabadi Sufi prisoners in Great Tehran Penitentiary to be kept in the same ward.
On February 8, 2020, Dadashi was reportedly released from prison.
Dadashi was reportedly denied adequate medical care and subjected to attacks and inhumane living conditions during his detention.
"Ali Akbar Dadashi" United For Iran
"18 Sufis on Strike in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary Issue Three Demands" Center For Human Rights In Iran
"Iran: Over 200 Dervishes Convicted" Human Rights Watch
"Mass Conviction of Sufi Protesters “Unprecedented in Iran’s Judicial History” Center For Human Rights In Iran
"Iran: Crackdown on Dervish Minority" Human Rights Watch
"Clashes Between Police and Sufis Leave Five Dead" Iran Wire
"Six People Said Killed, 300 Arrests At Sufi Protest In Iran" Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
"Clashes Highlight Tensions Between Dervishes And Iran's Establishment" Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)