Iranian woman activist gets 24 years in jail for 'spreading prostitution' by removing hijab in protest against strict law
An Iranian activist was jailed for 24 years on August 27 for removing her hijab, and "spreading propaganda against the state" as well as for "assembly and collusion" by encouraging other women in the country to follow in her footsteps.
Tehran's Revolutionary Court handed Saba Kord Afshari, 20, her sentence after finding her guilty of removing her headscarf, which also included a 15-year term for "spreading prostitution by taking off her hijab," Daily Mail reported.
Afshari's mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, was also arrested along with her daughter in June for similar crimes as the pair used to frequently hit the streets sans their hijabs to encourage women to flout the law that mandated them to cover up their heads. They were also members of the White Wednesday protest group which routinely spoke out against the compulsory headgear law.
After her recent arrest, she was taken to Qarchak Prison of Varamin. On July 2, she was taken to the Ward 2A in Evin Prison in Tehran which belongs to the Intelligence Department of the Revolutionary Guards, where the authorities forced her to make video confessions of her crimes, the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported.
Despite the arrest of her mother, Afshari stood her ground and refused to plead guilty on camera.
On August 19, her trial officially began and her sentences were increased by almost a half because of “numerous charges and previous records." Her lawyer said that his client was informed of the revised sentence on August 27.
Afshari was arrested for having rejected the hijab back in August 2018. After being detained in limbo at the time, she was sentenced to one year in prison for “disruption of public order." After she was released in February 2019, Afshari continued to protest against the violation of human rights by the Iranian regime, which resulted in her arrest in June.
Apart from Afshari, among the nine civil activists who were sentenced to a total of 54 years in prison on Monday, August 26, three were women. The women, named Shima Babaii, Mojgan Lali, and Shaghayegh Mahaki, each received a sentence of six years in prison for charges which included “association and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state.” Their court hearing was held on April 21, 2019, in Tehran.