Source: RadioFarda (RFE/RL)
A group of 20 prominent Iranian female civil and political activists have condemned the imprisonment of fellow activist Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for crimes “against the regime,” and are demanding her immediate and unconditional release.
In a statement published on April 20, the group said that “after months of waiting in detention,” Iraee was sentenced “in a brutal, unfair, and vindictive process.”
“By announcing our firm support for Golrokh Iraee, we demand her immediate and unconditional release,” the statement added.
The statement highlights the ongoing crackdown on civil and political activists following the nationwide protests triggered by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for an alleged headscarf violation.
Despite a general amnesty announced in February by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, many activists remain behind bars after being handed harsh sentences for participating in rallies calling for more freedoms.
Iraee, who has been arrested multiple times in the past due to her activism and is currently being held in the women’s ward of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, was convicted last week of “assembly and collusion against the regime,” for which she received a six-year prison sentence, and “propaganda against the regime,” for which she was sentenced to one year.
The Islamic republic’s judiciary also banned Iraee from leaving the country, staying in Tehran, or join a party or group for two years and confiscated her mobile phone.
The government faces one of the biggest threats to the Islamic leadership since the revolution in 1979 from the nationwide protests over Amini’s death.
The protests have “brought a woman’s cry for freedom to the streets of the country and a new wave of women’s liberation from historical oppression has emerged,” the activists’ statement said, adding that this has brought “a new wave of arrests and imprisonment and heavy sentences for political and social activists.”
Signatories of the statement include well-known female activists such as Anisha Asadollahi, Yasmin Aryani, Asal Mohammadi, Atena Daemi, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Parvin Mohammadi, Nazanin Zaghari, Zhila Makvandi, and Alieh Matlabzadeh.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
