Amnesty International had barely launched its Urgent Action Campaign to release blogger Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, before the Iranian authorities sentenced his father, Ahmad Ronaghi-Maleki, to four months in prison for releasing information about his son.

”My birthday gift for my father: 4 months of imprisonment on charges of publishing falsehoods,” wrote Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki on his personal twitter account on July 5, 2015.

Following his arrest in 2009, Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his work as a human rights activist and blogger. On June 17, 2015, the young blogger, who suffers from serious kidney problems and other health issues, was granted medical leave to receive urgent specialized medical care.

But on June 29, despite Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki’s poor health condition, the Iranian authorities told him he “must return [to prison]”. Since then, the authorities have repeated this message by phone almost every day.

Now his father, Ahmad Ronaghi-Maleki, has allegedly been sentenced to four months in prison after giving interviews to media about his son's situation.

When his son was first arrested in 2009, authorities warned Ahmad Ronaghi-Maleki not to speak to the media. But in an interview with IranWire in March 2015, Ahmad Ronaghi-Maleki said he feels he must talk: “I do not want to create headaches for my son," he said, "but when nobody in this country is accountable and nobody hears me, I have to speak to the media. I call on all authorities to look into my son’s case.”