Ebrahim Rashidi, a journalist and researcher, was released from Meshginshahr Prison on February 22, 2024, after enduring 54 days of temporary detention. He was released after posting a bail of 200 million tomans.
Ebrahim Rashidi was arrested on December 30, 2023, at his father’s house in the village of “Mirkandi” in Meshginshahr County. Intelligence officers detained him without presenting a judicial warrant and later transferred him to the public and revolutionary prosecutor’s office in the city before moving him to the Ardabil Intelligence Office detention center.
After spending more than two weeks in solitary confinement in the Ardabil Intelligence Office, Rashidi was transferred to the central prison of Ardabil. During his detention, he was denied access to legal representation and visits from family. On January 15, 2024, upon his arrival at Ardabil Prison, officials engaged in an act considered psychological torture by shaving Rashidi’s head.
On January 27, 2024, he was moved from Ardabil Prison to Meshginshahr Prison. The first branch of the public and revolutionary prosecutor’s office in Meshginshahr has charged the journalist with “propaganda against the regime,” according to Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, and “spreading falsehoods with the intent to disturb public opinion,” according to Article 746 of the Islamic Penal Code.