Iran brings new charges against jailed reformist: media

Jailed Iranian activist and former cabinet member Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent figure of the Islamic republic's reformist camp, has been charged with "propaganda" against the state, local media said Monday.

Tajzadeh, jailed since July 2022 in Tehran's Evin prison, served as deputy interior minister under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who oversaw a rapprochement with the West between 1997 and 2005.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2022 on charges of "plotting against state security" among others, his lawyer said at the time.

Reformist daily Hammihan said Monday that new charges had been brought against Tajzadeh, accusing him again "of plotting against state security" and "propaganda against the Islamic republic".

He had already spent a total of seven years behind bars, having been arrested in 2009 alongside other reformist leaders following the re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a vote contested by the opposition.

Tajzadeh, an outspoken commentator on national politics via social media channels operated by his relatives, said in a letter "that he would not appear in court" in the new case, according to Hammihan.

If convicted, Hammihan said, Tajzadeh could face up to six more years in jail.

In recent years, he has urged democratisation and called on authorities to enact "structural changes" in the Iranian political system.