Authorities arrested Fallahiyazadeh, 33, on November 1, 2006, and transferred him to Tehran’s Evin Prison, according to the Iran-based human rights group Human Rights Activists in Iran . His detention stemmed from his reporting on the government’s harsh treatment of Iranian-Arab protesters in the Khuzestan provincial capital, Ahwaz, the group said.
A Revolutionary Court convicted him during closed proceedings and sentenced him to a three-year prison term for spreading propaganda against the Islamic regime and for communicating with opposition groups, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran and Amnesty International. Fallahiyazadeh, who belongs to Iran’s Arab minority, was denied access to a lawyer, the groups said.
Fallahiyazadeh was a reporter for the state-run Arabic language satellite channel Al-Alam, and for several Arab media outlets, such as Lebanon ‘s Future TV, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Activists in Iran . He once worked as managing editor of the now-defunct student publication Aqlam al-Talaba at the Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz.