15-Month Prison Sentence for Exposing Virginity Tests on Female Prisoners
Tehran Province’s Court of Appeals has sentenced Parisa Rafiee, a student held in Evin Prison, to 15 months in prison for a letter she wrote regarding virginity tests being conducted on female prisoners. She had previously been acquitted.
Parisa Rafiee, a 24-year-old art student and labor activist at Tehran University, received a sentence of one year and three months in a new case on charges of “propaganda against the state.” The case stems from a complaint by the prosecutor and is related to a whistleblowing letter Rafiee wrote about her experiences in detention and the pressure exerted on female prisoners.
After her arrest at a student gathering in March 2018, she was sentenced to seven years in prison in summer 2019 on charges of “action against national security and propaganda activities against the state.” The sentence, which also included 74 lashes, two years of travel ban, and deprivation of membership in groups and parties, was confirmed by the Supreme Court in November 2019 but was reduced to one year in prison in December 2019 under a “specific pardon.”
In a letter dated May 9, 2020, Rafiee described the conditions of solitary confinement and virginity tests performed on female prisoners. However, this letter became the basis for the prosecutor’s complaint and the Evin Prosecutor’s Office, and Branch 36 of the Court of Appeals sentenced her to 15 months in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state” based on this writing.
The ruling was issued on January 20, 2021, and the court cited Article 137 of the Islamic Penal Code in issuing the new sentence, which allows judges to impose a sentence exceeding the maximum prescribed punishment in case of crime repetition.
Mostafa Nili, Parisa Rafiee’s defense lawyer, stated: “The letter for which she was charged with propaganda against the state was written before her conviction in the previous case became final.”
Parisa Rafiee’s last interrogation session in this case was held on September 6, 2020, in Branch 2 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office under the supervision of Judge Hajji Moradi, and her defense lawyer was not present.
In that whistleblowing letter, Parisa Rafiee had asked: “What connection does conducting a virginity test, a completely personal matter for female prisoners, have to the security apparatus and interrogation content that file experts shamelessly authorize such measures through official legal medicine authorities and even issue court orders for them?”
She also questioned how solitary confinement could not be considered a clear and complete example of psychological torture.
Parisa Rafiee has been held in custody since July 8, 2020, following a summons to the enforcement unit of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office and is being held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Source: DW
