14 April 2010 In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a student activist reported the release of Ali Sepandar and Behzad Parvin, two members of the Central Council of Islamic Association of Birjand University. The two students were detained at Birjand Central Prison. Ali Sepandar, Behzad Parvin, and Milad Garajian, three members of the Islamic Association of Birjand University were arrested in March and were transferred to Birjand and Neyshabour Prisons. The students were arrested and tried for their student activism and their participation in Mehdi Karroubi’s elections campaign last year. Previously, these students were arrested along with Amin Ostadi last July in the cities of Mashad, Birjand, and Neyshabour. They were transferred to Birjand Intelligence Office and released later. They were re-arrested and transferred to prison just before the Iranian New Year (March 21, 2010), and only two days after their sentences were upheld in an appeals court. Behzad Parvin, Secretary of Birjand University Islamic Association was sentenced to three months and one day of imprisonment. He was arrested in Mashad and transferred to Birjand. Ali Sepandar, Political Secretary of the Birjand University Islamic Association, was also sentenced to three months and one day’s imprisonment and three months’ suspended imprisonment. He, too, was arrested in Mashad and transferred to Birjand Prison along with Mr. Parvin.
