Eight people who held discussions and criticized Islam and religion in an internet social network were sentenced to 54 years of prison altogether.

These eight people were mostly arrested between July and February 2011 for being active in a social network and criticizing and studying the conventional arguments and reasons in religious views.After the Intelligence Agency arrested these people, they were tortured and forced to make confessions on state-run TV. They were kept in solitary cells for a long time and [intelligence agents] tried to link them to European embassies and countries despite the fact that they had only discussed religious issues on the internet.Most of these people were treated violently and were mentally and physically tortured for a prolonged amount of time.From these detainees, Dr. Kamran Ayazi, a dentist from Shiraz, was sentenced to 9 years of prison on charges of enmity with God and received the longest prison term.Dr. Ladan Mostavafi [f] was sentenced to five years of prison, Hanieh Sane [f], was sentenced to seven years of prison, Hojatollah Nikouyi, five years of prison, Mohammad-Reza Pounaki, six years of prison, Mohammad-Reza Akhlaqi, seven years of prison, Sepehr Ibrahimi, eight years of prison and Amir Latifi was sentenced to seven years of prison.These eight men and women were charged with ‘insulting sanctities and insulting the leader’.