Sepideh Roshno's Decision to Attend Court with Optional Hijab

Sepideh Roshno announced on her Instagram page: "Today, October 2, 2023, I will appear in court with this attire, accompanied by my lawyer Mr. Panahipour, to defend against two charges of 'encouraging corruption and prostitution and propaganda against the regime,' which are solely based on my first post on my Instagram page." She emphasized that she is attending court to defend against accusations she has not committed, stating: "To defend the right to choose my attire and the right to write about what has happened to me. To defend being a 'woman'; a part of the body called 'hair' that everyone—men and women—naturally has." Sepideh Roshno stressed, "I see that my family will lose their peace and will be under various pressures. But I only know that the truth is this image you see, and I see no way but to adhere to the truth." As of the time of this report, no news has been published regarding her court appearance today, and it is unclear whether the court has allowed her to be present. Earlier this year, in Ordibehesht, Roshno had also gone to the university disciplinary committee without mandatory hijab. Roshno, who was sentenced to 'prohibition from studying' for two semesters, had previously written, "I told them I would return after two semesters of suspension, but with this attire, and they also issued me a warning of prohibition from entering." Sepideh Roshno, born in 1994, is a writer and editor who was arrested in July 2022 following her protest against 'mandatory hijab' and her resistance against the interventions of a woman known as 'Raheh Rabiei' regarding her attire, and was forced to make 'forced confessions' on the Islamic Republic's state television. Roshno is a student at Alzahra University, which is considered one of the single-gender - female - universities in the Islamic Republic. Roshno's account of the midnight when 'ten or twelve' agents attacked: they said, 'We will break your neck.' The simultaneous pressure from both her family and the Islamic Republic on Sepideh Roshno: they say, 'Give it up.' Sepideh Roshno reported: two semesters of prohibition from studying by the disciplinary committee's verdict. The repetition of the 'forced confession' scenario; Zeynab Kazemi 'apologized.' Sepideh Roshno was sentenced to five years of suspended prison and writing a research paper on literature and patriotism.