Conviction of the director of the independent media outlet Abdi Media on charges of defamation and publishing falsehoods following a complaint by influential members of Zaviya Financial Group, with the exception of Fereydoun Boozarjomehri,

Do you remember the petition filed with the prosecutor by effective members of the Zaviya Financial Group (except Fereydoun Boozarjomehri residing in Canada), including the Eskandarinia family—specifically Ms. Kobra Asadi—against the director and editor-in-chief of Abdi Media, as well as my note regarding this matter?

The hearing session of Branch 1043 of Tehran Criminal Court 2, presided over by His Excellency Judge Amir Biparva, was held on Saturday, National Journalists' Day.

I truly wished I were present inside the country to personally participate in court with all the documents and records, welcoming this complaint and the review of the vast, undeniable documents I possess, so that "whoever harbors deceit shall be disgraced."

However, esteemed lawyer Behnam Nezadi voluntarily (in full compliance with the regulations issued by the Supreme Council for Countering Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, and the Prosecutor General's directive for Iranians residing abroad) undertook the burden and assumed my legal representation.

While it was expected that the court would return the indictment to the prosecutor's office for completion—to specify the instances of defamation and publishing falsehoods that were strangely and seemingly inadvertently omitted—the honorable judge, without considering the conviction judgment of Mohsen Eskandarinia or the non-prosecution order issued for the other complainants in Abdi Media by His Excellency Amin Toyserkani, swiftly proceeded to draft a verdict. He sentenced me to a fine of 80 million Toman for defamation, and to six months of imprisonment for publishing falsehoods!!!

Of course, His Excellency the honorable judge felt sympathy for me and suspended the prison sentence for a period of one year!

However, two exceptionally important points remain:

First: The honorable court judge has sentenced me to restore the reputation of the complainants in the case, naturally after the verdict becomes final!!!!! Yet he did not specify: if such a sentence is hypothetically upheld in higher stages and I am recognized as a slanderer and publisher of falsehoods, how and by what method am I supposed to restore their reputation?!

Second: The honorable judge seemed to be in a great hurry and, in the body or at the end of the text, inadvertently forgot to render a judicial decision regarding my other charges brought by this family—charges for which a non-prosecution order had been issued by the Tehran District 31 Prosecutor's Office—whether to uphold it, overturn it, or even issue a summons for trial!!!

My esteemed lawyer, regardless of the outcome, will register our objection within the legally prescribed deadline and submit it to the Court of Appeals.

Nevertheless, I will continue my accurate, documented, and fair coverage of the accused cases involving the Zaviya Financial Group (and indeed any case that possesses a public aspect and where the authenticity of all documents and narratives is verified for me).

Whoever claims that even a single narrative in Abdi Media regarding this group or any other subject is false, or even that I have exaggerated, is welcome to file a complaint so that I may present its documents to the competent adjudicating authority.

Furthermore, it would have been proper for Mr. Hamidreza Alikhani, the honorable interrogator of the 12th Branch of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of Tehran District 31, to request the case file or trial records of the Zaviya Financial Group and cross-reference them with the complainants' claims.

Or His Excellency Mr. Alikhani could have queried—even verbally—the special interrogator of the case, Dr. Mohammad Nargesian (especially during the period he was his colleague in that prosecutor's office) or Interrogator Mohammad Ali Piltan (the subsequent special interrogator of the case currently serving in that prosecutor's office), asking which of the narratives regarding this group does not match the case files?!

It seems that just as the esteemed interrogator did not deem it expedient, the honorable court judge also did not consider it proper to perform this very simple judicial procedure!!!

Just like the very strange ruling by Judge Amin Toyserkani for the massive Zaviya Financial Group case, which must be respected, this opinion of the honorable judge of Branch 1043 of Tehran Criminal Court 2 must also be respected.

I had mentioned that you would be stunned by the Zaviya narratives.

Just wait...

I am sharing the legal bill submitted by the esteemed lawyer Behnam Nezadi to Branch 1043 of Tehran Criminal Court 2—which was disregarded by the honorable judge—for the information of legal professionals.

In any case, Judge Biparva, with all due respect, held the view of drafting a bold/unfettered (*Biparva*) verdict.