Iranian political prisoner Saeed Sangar, who has already spent 18 years behind bars, has been sentenced to another 15 years in prison.

Sangar was due to finish serving an 18 year prison sentence but was not released from prison. Instead, he was informed of a new sentence by a court-appointed lawyer. The sentence was issued by Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court on 1st March 2020.

Sangar was arrested in September 2000 at the age of 27 for "waging war on God" due to his ties with the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran. He was sentenced to death, but later converted to life in prison by the Revision Court in 2003.

After his initial sentence, he was placed in solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry Ward of Evin Prison, Tehran. He then moved to Central Prison of Urmia in 2003. In November 2007, he was moved to the Central Prison of Sanandaj and in September 2015, he was sent back to the Central Prison of Urmia. In March 2017, the guards at Urmia Central Prison raided the political prisoners’ ward and confiscated Sangar’s memoirs.

It is not known why the authorities decided to increase his sentence, but this is not uncommon as extra-judicial decisions are made spontaneously often.