Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal has sentenced Behzad Soleimanpur and Vahid Faezpur to 50 lashes and 50 million Rial ($2500) fine.

The two South Azerbaijani activists were arrested by security forces in the city of Urmia on August 28th 2012,  a day after  the public demonstrations held in the city of Urmia to save the Lake Urmia.  They were released on a 1, 50 Billion Rial bail after 8 days of captivity.

There have been frequent public protests to bring the Lake Urmia crisis to the authorities’ attention in many cities of South Azerbaijan including Urmia, Sulduz( Naghadeh), Sovuqbulaq (Mahabad) Tabriz, Khoy, Slamas, etc.The government has been aggressively oppressive of  the peaceful South Azerbaijan environmentalists.

Behzad Soleimanpur and Vahid Faezpur are known to the Iranian spy agency Ettelaat as the two were subjected to many arbitrary detentions due to their role in protests demanding Tehran to take action to prevent ecological disaster in Urmia.

The Lake Urmia, once the largest salt lake of the world, is condensed to 20 per cent of its magnitude within the last decade. The South Azerbaijanis have been criticizing the Iranian regime’s anti- Azerbaijan policy. Many believe that Iranian government has been deliberately shrinking the Lake Urmia to easily utilize the lake’s salt in its uranium enrichment programs.

 Experts warn  that the lake Urmia’s eradication will cause salt tsunamis which will extinguish the environment and force millions of native Azerbaijanis to evict their native land.