Hangameh Shahidi Arrested in Kish

The Tehran Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of Hangameh Shahidi, a journalist, member of the National Trust Party, and former advisor to Mehdi Karroubi, on the island of Kish. She had previously been imprisoned in solitary confinement for six months in 2017. The Tehran Public and Revolutionary Court's website published this news on Tuesday (June 25), stating that she was 'under judicial pursuit' without mentioning the charges against her. According to the report, police arrested her 'while she was using a mask to hide from the authorities.' Parvaneh Taherian, Shahidi's daughter, tweeted that 'my mother... despite all efforts, was arrested and sent to prison by security agencies this morning.' According to Taherian, Shahidi had suffered a heart attack a few days prior and was arrested immediately after being discharged from the hospital. Recent images of her in a hospital bed had circulated, indicating she was under the care of a 'trusted doctor' in one of Tehran's hospitals. On Tuesday, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, responded to a question from the Tasnim news agency regarding the reason for Shahidi's arrest and her previous case status, stating: 'She had been in hiding for several months and, as I saw on social media, every day she made blatant insults against the judiciary and its officials instead of introducing herself; she was publishing very criminal tweets. Today, she was arrested in Kish Island while claiming she would not introduce herself until the judiciary officials changed.' Shahidi, who had also spent six months in solitary confinement in 2017, was released after a hunger strike. Images released after her release showed her looking very emaciated. Mostafa Torkhamdani, her lawyer, stated that his client began her hunger strike immediately upon her arrest by the Ministry of Intelligence in Mashhad and continued it for 110 days until Eid al-Fitr, resulting in physical injuries (heart, kidney, bladder, and intestinal infections). The reason for her six-month imprisonment last year was not disclosed. After her release, she protested in two letters addressed to Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, against 'six months of solitary confinement without evidence and the threats from the judiciary's protection.' She claimed this incident was due to 'the personal vendetta of the prosecutor.' In her second letter to Larijani, she stated that 'the country's security apparatus, as a judicial agent under the direct supervision of the Tehran prosecutor (Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi), accused me of false and baseless charges related to the Amadnews news channel, without any official and legal evidence.' She indicated that 'the basis for some behaviors in the judiciary is personal issues with individuals' and requested the restoration of her lost material and moral rights due to six months of solitary confinement without valid and legal evidence. After her release from prison, Shahidi criticized the government of Hassan Rouhani and reformists, accusing them of standing against 'the rights of the people.'