When Iranian hardliners criticized the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 group in Geneva in 2013, President Hassan Rouhani met with university professors and urged them to support his diplomatic stance on the nuclear issue. “Why is the university silent?” he chastised the academics who attended the meeting. “ًًًWhy are the professors silent? What we need is Socrates-like courage! What are we afraid of?...Why should only a small number of people talk? Why must there be a group of uneducated people doing all the talking while our university professors speak in private? Why don’t they step forward? The future will not forgive us for this.”

These days, I am thinking a lot about President Rouhani’s statements as my father, Mohammad Hossein Rafiee, a retired chemistry professor of Tehran University, a member of Iran’s Melli-Mazhabi (Nationalist-Religious) Coalition as well as the National Peace Council, is in Evin Prison due to his public support of the Geneva interim deal.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mohammad Hossein Rafiee Photograph: Courtesy of Anna Maryam Rafiee

My father had previously criticized Iran’s stance regarding its nuclear energy program – a stance that has brought on severe international sanctions against the country and endangered Iran’s national security. However, he has supported President Rouhani’s diplomatic approach to resolving the nuclear problem with the P5+1 countries. My father believes that an agreement would reduce the threat of war and lead to an easing of the harmful economic sanctions. To that end, he wrote a comprehensive 120-page analysis of the nuclear situation titled “The Geneva agreement.” It was sent to Iranian authorities and published on his website. A summary of this document was published in one of Iran’s few remaining independent journals. In this document and other articles he also restated his position that a sustainable future for the country would only be achieved through the release of political prisoners, free and fair elections and an improvement of the human rights situation in Iran.

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Shortly after publishing his views about the interim agreement, he faced pressure from the Intelligence Ministry, Iran’s official security apparatus. The pressure took the form of constant threats to his person and severe limitations on his activities. In June 2014 our private residences in Tehran and Damavand were raided. Both houses were searched and the private archives, papers, and laptops of all family members were confiscated. My father was arrested and accused of “spreading propaganda against the regime.” He was released on heavy bail and banned from leaving the country. His subsequent trial was held in secret and he was sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

In the last year, my father has written to President Rouhani and explained the pressures he has been facing due to his public support of the Geneva nuclear agreement. He also answered President Rouhani’s above-mentioned questions to academics: “Do you know why academics are silent and don’t step forward to publicly support the Geneva agreement,” he wrote on 1 July 2014. “Because a ministry under your management, the Intelligence Ministry, threatens and arrests your supporters.”

Meanwhile, the Intelligence Ministry pressured the judiciary to reopen my father’s previous trial, the objective being to imprison him as soon as possible. In the original case, my father had been arrested and held behind bars for six months in 2001, for the most part in solitary confinement. He and other Melli-Mazhabi activists were initially accused of “plotting to overthrow the ruling regime.” However during the trial this charge was changed to “spreading propaganda against the regime.” My father was sentenced to four years in prison which was never implemented as the Court of Appeals did not uphold the sentence. According to the law, because more than 10 years had passed since the judgment, the sentence could no longer be revived and carried out against him.

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Ultimately, on 25 May 2015, my father was sentenced to six years in prison and received a two-year ban on political and journalistic activities. He was also given a fine for possession of a satellite TV dish and receiver.

Apparently, the intelligence agents could not wait until the sentence had been taken up by the Appeals Court. On 16 June my father was arrested in the street by agents of the Intelligence Ministry without an arrest warrant and was taken to the Evin prosecution center. Judge Nasiripour at first refused to issue an arrest warrant against my father, but the security forces urged him to contact the prosecutor. Eventually, after a few hours, on the direct orders of the prosecutor, they transferred my father to Evin where he started his hunger strike and refused to take his medication to protest his illegal arrest. The hunger strike was discontinued after four days.

Today my father remains in Evin prison. The cells are very crowded and, as there are not enough beds for all prisoners, newcomers sleep on the floor. Health and hygiene conditions are dismal. My father is 70 years old and has serious health issues including a heart condition, high blood pressure, thyroid and severe allergies. With prison conditions being what they are, I am not sure I will see him again after this imprisonment.

As the deadline for a final nuclear deal approaches, I hope, like many others, that Iran and the world powers reach a long-term deal that can ensure the peace, safety, and security we all desire. It is ironic however that pacifists in Iran are being imprisoned for daring to speak out in favor of peace. I wonder who will trust President Rouhani next time he puts out a call for Iranian intellectuals and academics to rally behind him.