Court Session Held to Address Charges Against Sepideh Qolian

Yesterday, Sunday, August 15th, a court session was held to address charges against Sepideh Qolian.

Sepideh Qolian, a civil activist currently serving her sentence in Evin Prison, had a case filed against her based on a complaint by Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, a IRIB news anchor and journalist. Yesterday, Sunday, on August 15th, the court hearing regarding this case was held in closed session in Branch 1207 of the Criminal Court of Shahid Kachuyee Judicial Complex in Tehran.

Sepideh Qolian, accompanied by her defense attorney Amir Raiseyan, appeared in the court hearing regarding the complaint filed by Ameneh Zabihpour, who accused her of “disturbing public opinion by spreading falsehoods on social media” and “propaganda activity against the system on social media,” and presented her defense.

This was the second court hearing for the aforementioned case. The first hearing, which was scheduled to be held publicly and broadcast live, did not take place due to non-compliance with hijab requirements.

Amir Raiseyan, Sepideh Qolian’s defense attorney, stated regarding this court hearing: “We presented our explanations and declared the request we made to the court for rectifying investigative shortcomings. Now we are waiting for the court to make its decisions on this matter. The only decision that was announced to the legal representative presented by the complainant and communicated to us is that another court session will be held, and necessarily the complainant, Ms. Zabihpour, must participate in the court session.”