Saba Azarpeyk, Journalist, Sentenced to Imprisonment and Social Media Ban

Another journalist in Iran has been sentenced to two years of prison and a two-year ban from social media activities on charges including 'spreading falsehoods, defamation, insult, and threats.' The Hamshahri newspaper, affiliated with the Tehran municipality, reported on Tuesday, March 7, that Saba Azarpeyk, a 'media activist,' has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment and a two-year prohibition from social media. According to the court ruling, 'in the event of repeated criminal behavior,' an additional 'one-third' will be added to her prison term. The report does not clarify which court issued this ruling for the journalist, but it has been noted that in recent months, 'the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Alireza Razm Hosseini, Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade of Hassan Rouhani's government, Zahra Shikhi, a member of the eleventh parliament, and Seyyed Mohsen Dehnavi, a member of the parliamentary board' had filed complaints against Saba Azarpeyk. The announcement of Saba Azarpeyk's two-year prison sentence comes as she recently published details of a corruption case involving a member of the parliamentary board on Instagram, accusing Mohsen Dehnavi, one of her accusers, of taking bribes based on an audio file. Saba Azarpeyk is a journalist close to the reformist faction and publishes content about the corruption of some officials and affiliates of the Islamic Republic on social media. She had previously been arrested in November 2018 after revealing letters on the Ministry of Intelligence letterhead to the Islamic Consultative Assembly before the vote of confidence for Mohammad Shariatmadari, the then Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Islamic Republic. This reformist journalist supported Ebrahim Raisi in the previous presidential election.