Continued Sentencing of Imprisonment and Flogging for Student Activists

In the continuation of prison sentences for students and student activists, the 23-month prison sentence of Roya Saghiri, a student at Tabriz University, was upheld by the appeals court. Her charges include 'propaganda against the regime and insulting the pillars of the regime.' Previously, she had also been sentenced to 10 lashes and a one-year suspended prison sentence for 'disruption of public order, participating in gatherings, and not observing Islamic hijab.' Two other students from Tabriz University, Ali Kamrani, received a three-month prison sentence, and Ali Ghaderi was sentenced to six months of imprisonment and a one-year suspended prison sentence. Journalist and student at Shahid Beheshti University, Sadegh Qaisari, was sentenced to seven years in prison, 74 lashes, and a two-year travel ban along with a prohibition on media activities. Recently, six other students, including Fereshteh Toosi, Ali Mozaffari, Sina Omran, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Sina Rabiei, and Mohsen Haqshenas, received sentences ranging from one to eight years in prison. Sepideh Farahan, an architecture graduate, was also sentenced to six years in prison and 74 lashes on security-related charges. Concurrently, the prison sentences of Peyman Shakiba and Majid Asadi, two former student activists, were upheld in the appeals court, with Shakiba receiving 11 years and Asadi six years for 'gathering and conspiracy aimed at acting against national security.' Most of these student activists were arrested during the protests in December 2017. The weekly magazine 'Daricheh' also reports on the ongoing issuance of prison sentences for protesters against mandatory hijab, continued arrests and sentencing of Gonabadi dervishes, the re-arrest of journalist Amir Hossein Mir Asmaeili in Tehran, and news regarding other political and ideological prisoners in Iran.