Leila Hosseinzadeh, Student Activist, Sentenced to Prison in Absentia

Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student activist and former political prisoner, announced on her personal Instagram page that she has been sentenced to prison for 'participating without mandatory hijab' in her master's thesis defense at Tehran University last year. Ms. Hosseinzadeh noted that she was accused of 'being in public spaces and universities without adhering to the mandatory hijab' and 'propaganda against the regime,' and that the 26th branch of the Tehran court conducted the trial 'illegally without holding a session with her present.' She added that she learned of her conviction only through an electronic verdict from Judge Iman Afshari. Ms. Hosseinzadeh stated that she is completely unaware of the details of her absentia trial and her sentence, writing: 'Naturally, I have no hope for an appeal or other legal proceedings. I will wait until the case is referred to the execution of sentences.' She has previously been arrested and imprisoned in Adelabad prison in Shiraz and Evin prison in Tehran. In this context, Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and head of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, wrote on her Instagram page: 'This student activist, who was quietly engaged in sociological research, has been sentenced to prison solely for defending her thesis,' noting that Judge Afshari's justification for the ruling was her presence without a hijab at that session. The Islamic Republic has increased restrictions on individual and social freedoms for women by criminalizing non-compliance with the mandatory hijab, deploying both official and unofficial forces to confront women who engage in civil disobedience against this obligation in the streets. Meanwhile, civil disobedience against the mandatory hijab and violations of women's rights continue, and reports indicate that the number of women who go without hijab in public places has increased. Student protests at Kharazmi University followed the death of a student, the opening of a 'clinic for abandoning hijab' is a new initiative by the government to enforce hijab, and the World Student Assembly has called for the immediate release of the 'girl from Science and Research.'