Tehran Prosecutor Reports Sentencing of 16 Women on Charges of 'Membership in ISIS'

Tehran's prosecutor announced the sentencing of 16 women identified as 'ISIS members' who, according to him, had been 'trained for terrorist activities' in Syria and returned to Iran. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated on Sunday, May 6, that these 16 'ISIS women' were sentenced to prison, ordered to return over '300 million tomans received from ISIS as wages,' and faced additional penalties. He added, 'These women, who went to Syria to support the ISIS group, were trained for terrorist actions and had operational experience; they were arrested upon their return to Iran.' Jafari Dolatabadi did not specify the length of the sentences for each of these women and provided no further details regarding their ages or the timing of their arrests. While the prosecutor spoke of these women being trained 'for terrorist operations,' he had previously made different statements on November 7, 2017, regarding some of the arrested women, claiming they had gone to Syria with their husbands and 'were forced to return to Iran after the group was pushed back' from Syrian territory. He had stated that most of these women's husbands had been arrested or killed. He mentioned that they had also 'joined this group for payment and wages, and significant amounts of money were discovered from them upon their arrest.' Following attacks on the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini on June 7, 2017, Iranian security sources reported the arrest of an Iranian woman who allegedly played a 'guiding' role for the attackers of the mausoleum of the founder of the Islamic Republic. After that, security officials did not provide further details about the name and status of this individual. Meanwhile, in the trial of eight suspects in these attacks that began last week, no women are among the accused. So far, five sessions of the trial for these eight suspects have been held. Charges against these eight include 'membership in ISIS,' 'smuggling ammunition and military weapons,' 'forgery of documents and identification,' and 'carrying and possessing military weapons,' with accusations of 'corruption on earth' which could lead to the death penalty. In the attack on the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, five of the attackers were also killed. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence announced the names of the attackers without disclosing their surnames, identifying them as Ramin, Qayoom, Fereydoun, Abu Jihad, and Saryas. Meanwhile, some websites and Fars News Agency reported that the individual identified as Saryas had a Facebook page, and his full name is 'Saryas Sadeghi.' In this context, the 'ISIS terrorist attack' on the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran ended with 12 fatalities. A senior security official stated that the perpetrators of the Tehran attack were 'Iranian.' The Ministry of Intelligence published the names and images of the attackers in the Tehran assaults. A video of the attackers was released by a network affiliated with ISIS. The IRGC's missile attack on the Deir ez-Zor area of Syria was in retaliation for the Tehran attacks. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence reported the arrest of '27 members' of the ISIS group. The Tehran prosecutor stated that a death sentence had been issued for one ISIS member. The IRGC announced the arrest of members of 'a group linked to ISIS' in western Iran. The first defendant in the Tehran attacks case stated that he received $50 a month from ISIS. The changing battlefield of 'proxy forces'; war against the people in the streets of Iran. The Iranian crisis; the responsibility of the opposition and the potential radicalization of Iranian society. The death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iranian crisis.