Seyed Hossein Ronaghi Maleki (; born July4, 1985) is an Iranian human rights activist and blogger. He spent a total of 6 years in prison since 2009 for his activities. Following his re-arrest in 2022, he became one of the well-known faces of the Mahsa Amini protests.
Early life Hossein Ronaghi was born on 4 July 1985 in Malekan, East Azerbaijan. He was a computer software engineering student at Arak Azad University.
Biography
He was first imprisoned on 13 December 2009, for his activities in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests. Before the 2009 presidential election of Iran, Ronaghi was blogging under the pseudonym of Babak Khorramdin. He was in charge of the anti-censorship committee Iran Proxy. The committee would create a list of websites to pass filtering and send it to people via email. Ronaghi was re-arrested on 23 February 2022 after criticising the Cyberspace service regulation system that would limit internet access in Iran.
Arrests
13 December 2009 Ronaghi was quietly arrested along with his brother Hassan on 13 December 2009, for renewing proxies that allowed journalists and political activists to circumvent the government's website bans following last year's contested presidential elections. He was also charged with insulting the leadership for his critical blog posts.
Ronaghi and his brother were subjected to severe physical and mental pressure in the prison to the extent that, according to his family, Hassan was injured in the back of his neck due to torture. His brother was released from prison a month later with a bail of 80 million tomans.
On 15 March 2010, Kayhan whose editor-in-chief is representative of the Supreme Leader of Iran, published a report about Ronaghi and made heavy accusations against this articles. In the report, he was accused of taking action against national security and communicating with foreign organizations and taking money from them.
The continued pressure on him in the solitary cells to get a televised confession made Ronagi go on a hunger strike on 24 May 2010, and was transferred to solitary cell. After his hunger strike, his parents went to Tehran to follow up on his condition but did not get any news about their child and the judicial authorities did not answer them. After hearing a negative answer for a face-to-face meeting from the Tehran prosecutor, Hossein Ronaghi's mother decided to go on a hunger strike together with her son until he broke his hunger strike after nearly two weeks.
After 10 months of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki's detention in Ward 2A of Evin Prison, finally on 5 October 2010, the 26th branch of the Revolutionary Court issued a sentence of 15 years of imprisonment and was served on him, and due to his refusal to sign the sentence, he was beaten by the head of the office and accompanying officers; For this reason, he went on a hunger strike on 7 October 2010, for the third time during his prison term, in protest against his sentence, which resulted in his serious physical condition. On 20 November 2010, Ronaghi's case, that faced objections from his lawyers, was sent to the Court of Appeals, and on 11 December 2010, the sentence of 15 years of ta'zir imprisonment (it is the kind of imprisonment where the convict cannot pay a fine instead of serving his full prison sentence) for Hossein Ronaghi was approved by the 54th branch of the Court of Appeals, and he was sent to Section 350 of Evin Prison. His accusations in the court were "membership in the proxy Iran network with the aim of disrupting the country's security, insulting the leadership, insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, publishing lies with the intention of disturbing the public mind and propagandizing activities against the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
In prison, Ronaghi developed a kidney disease and underwent at least four operations. More than 100 of Maleki's fellow prisoners wrote a letter to the authorities warning that he would die if not provided with appropriate medical care.
Although Ronaghi suffers from heart and kidney problems, during his custody, the prison guards denied him medical treatment. When he went on a hunger strike to protest his maltreatment and torture, he was placed in solitary confinement. He was under intense pressure to make a televised confession of his alleged wrongdoing. when Ronaghi was handed a 15-years long prison sentence. Neither his lawyer nor his family were present for the verdict.
He requested sick leave twice in letters to the prosecutor of Tehran on 10 July 2011, and in August of the same year, and in those letters he spoke about his bad condition and the prison condition and the pressures of the illegal institutions in the prison. This letter caused him to be beaten in prison on 15 August 2011. As a result of this beating, he was transferred to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran and was under anesthesia for several hours. On the same night, while he was not in a good condition, Ronaghi was sent back to Evin prison and was denied leave. Ronaghi lost a kidney on 26 October 2011, due to not being transferred to the hospital on time and not being on sick leave. He went on an indefinite hunger strike following the intervention of Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in his case and preventing him from receiving sick leave in December 2011. Having been recently operated on, he was specifically kicked in the kidney by security forces. Physical abuse and torture, lack of medical treatment, and the effects of several hunger strikes led to Ronaghi's kidney failure. Consequently, his kidney was removed, and his remaining kidney was extremely damaged, threatening his life while in prison.
In July 2012, he was given a short medical parole but after some time, he was beaten and arrested again while helping the victims of the 2012 East Azerbaijan earthquakes. Having been recently operated on, he was specifically kicked in the kidney by security forces. He then was sent on medical leave in the early summer of 2015 with a bail of one billion and four hundred million tomans. In the winter of the same year, during treatment, he was sent back to prison again to serve the rest of his sentence.
Amnesty International designated Ronaghi a prisoner of conscience, stating that he appeared to be "held solely on account of his peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression". The organization called for him to be released immediately and unconditionally.
In January 2016, Ronaghi was reported to be back in Evin prison after a period of medical parole that had been granted in June 2015.
In April 2016, Ronaghi was released from Evin prison due to the medical diagnosis of "intolerance of punishment". After his release, he wrote on his Facebook page: "After forty-one days of hunger strike and the hardships my parents suffered and the psychological pressure on the family and the people around me, this was accomplished"
Throughout a ten-year period, Ronaghi spent a total of 6 years in prison, him and his family were under constant pressure, suffered harassment and forced inspections. Finally, in June 2019, his permanent release was signed and Ronaghi's legal case was closed. Though his brother was released, scarred by beatings, Hossein Ronaghi's permanent release was not announced until June 2019.
Since his release, Ronaghi has been actively advocating against governmental propaganda. Most recently, he published an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled "Western Media Aren't Telling you the Truth About Iran" in which he shared his own experiences and observations as an activist and citizen in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
23 February 2022
The first news of Ronaghi's re-arrest came up on 23 February 2022, when the media first reported the disappearance of Ronaghi and then his arrest by security forces. The day before his arrest, he had criticized a plan to restrict the Internet in Iran, known as the Cyberspace service regulation system, in a series of tweets. His brother, Hassan Ronaghi, reported anonymous and threatening calls from state security agencies before Hossein disappeared. Confirming the news of his arrest, Iran International News Agency stated that no information was available about the detainee and his whereabouts. Human rights activists say the security forces have raided Ronaghi's home and confiscated some of his belongings.
On 26 February 2022, three days after his abduction, his lawyers appeared at the Security Prosecutor's Office and announced the arrest and filing of a case for their client in the 2nd branch of the investigation headed by investigator Mahmoud Hajmoradi. One of Ronaghi's lawyers said: "Hossein's lawyers were not allowed to access the case and get more information because they were not on the list of trusted lawyers of the judiciary." In a conversation with Harana news agency, some sources identified the organization responsible for the arrest of Hossein Ronaghi as the Ministry of Intelligence. On 27 February 2022, Ronaghi finally called his family, informing them that he had gone on dry hunger strike immediately after arrest. His brother, Hassan Ronaghi, wrote on Twitter: "Hossein called home and I talked to him. Since the day of his abduction, he has been on dry strike and was not feeling very well. I told him to break your strike, it's dangerous for you, he just kept silent in response."
On 3 March 2022, Ronaghi was temporarily released on bail while the charges of "propaganda against the regime" and "congegrating and colluding against national security" remain in place for further proceedings.
24 September 2022
On 22 September, in the midst of Mahsa Amini protests, Hossein Ronaghi appeared on London-based channel Iran International for the first time, to speak on the uprisings taking place across Iran. In the middle of the interview, Ronaghi noticed the entrance of security forces into his apartment, stating "they seem to be here". While the TV host announced that Ronaghi has reportedly been arrested when closing the program, hours later, he published a video via a friend, informing the public that he had managed to escape a kidnapping attempt by security forces who had brought an ambulance to take him with, and used a brass knuckle to break his car's window. He also promised to go to the Evin Courthouse in the following week with his lawyer, and that he would immediately start a dry strike, if arrested.
On 24 September, Ronaghi appeared at the doors of the Evin Courthouse with his lawyers, Milad Panahipour and Saeid Jalilian, as promised. They were met with a very brutal violence before entering the courthouse. Security forces arrested Ronaghi and both his lawyers upon their entrance into the courthouse. A few days after his brutal arrest, a video was published of the moment he was arrested in front of Evin Courthouse where while he was shouting "I want to go to the prosecutor's office", some people tried to force him into a car. The video of his arrest went viral on social media and his last shout-in-pain words became a symbol of anger of the Mahsa Amini protests against police brutality. Ronaghi started his dry strike from the beginning of entering the prison, and during this time, his family repeatedly expressed concern about his physical weakness.