The defense attorney for political activist Hamed Ayinehvand announced that the appeal court has confirmed the sentence of six years in prison for his client without holding a session or even the presence of his client.

Hamed Ayinehvand was sentenced to one year in prison for the charge of “propaganda against the regime” and five years for “assembly and conspiracy against the national security” by Judge Moghiseh.

His attorney, Hossein Bayat, says the appeal session for his client at branch 36 of the appeal court was not held but the branch confirmed his client’s initial sentence verbatim.

The court has referred to the recent answer of the supreme leader to the chief of the judiciary regarding “unnecessary nature of appeal sessions”.

“When the parliament is in charge of changing the laws, why would the chief of judiciary refer to the leader’s order?” Bayat asked.

Ayinehvand was arrested in June of 2018 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence agents and has been in custody ever since. All his requests for release on bail was denied.

According to Bayat, his client was held in solitary confinement for 45 days and was later transferred to Evin Prison. He continued: The basis for the charges of “propaganda against the regime” was some of his articles that were published by some political websites, and his personal chats were the basis for the charge of “assembly and conspiracy against the national security”.

Bayat emphasized that personal chats were never revealed and cannot be used as a basis for accusation or punishment.