London, MEFD – Middle East Forum for Development condemns the imprisonment of Ali Matroudi, a poet and writer from Ahwaz, the capital city of Iran’s Khuzestan Province. On 18th May, Matroudi was sentenced by the Iranian authorities to serve a one-year prison sentence in Shiban prison on charges of “acting against national security and propaganda against the establishment”. The 40-year old Matroudi was arrested by the authorities in December 2013 together with other poets from Ahwaz for merely reciting Arabic poems at an event which commemorated the death of Mollah Fadhil Sakrani. Matroudi was detained for twenty days and ultimately released after he put his house up for bail. Following his release, Matroudi left Ahwaz for Yazd Province as threats and harassments by the authorities continued unabatedly against him and his family. Last week, the Iranian authorities summoned Ali Matroudi again to stand before the revolutionary court of Shadegan where he was sentenced to one-year imprisonment. Middle East Forum for Development calls on the international community to pressure the Iranian authorities to uphold the core international human rights treaties and immediately and unconditionally release Ali Matroudi from prison.