Six Years in Prison: The Sentence for a Civil Activist’s Protest Against Mandatory Hijab in the Islamic Republic
Zila Karamzadeh Makundeh, a civil activist critical of mandatory hijab in Iran, has recently been sentenced to six years in prison by an Iranian court for expressing her views and participating in protests last November. The sentence was delivered to her and her lawyer on September 28.
An informed source close to Zila Karamzadeh Makundeh told Voice of America that following a brief trial on September 8 in Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran, she was sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Seyedali Mazloom on charges including “gathering and conspiracy with intent to commit crimes against national security” and “propaganda against the system.”
Babak Paknia, the defense lawyer of Karamzadeh Makundeh, also confirmed the civil activist’s conviction by posting a statement on his Twitter account in recent days.
The sentence is not final, and Karamzadeh and her lawyer filed an appeal and requested a retrial on September 29.
Arrest, Absentee Verdict, and Sentence Repeated at In-Person Trial
An informed source close to Zila Karamzadeh Makundeh told Voice of America that Karamzadeh was arrested on November 12, 2019, by personnel from the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards. She had participated in a gathering at Laleh Park coinciding with last November’s protests with the slogan “No to poverty, war, and dictatorship.” During her detention, Karamzadeh was interrogated for expressing her views and criticism of mandatory hijab.
According to this informed source, Karamzadeh, who is a civil activist, had repeatedly expressed her opposition to mandatory hijab on Instagram and civil activists’ social media channels. She was detained in Evin for 20 days and was temporarily released on bail of 300 million tomans. In February of last year, Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Iran tried her in absentia on charges of gathering, conspiracy, and propaganda against the system, sentencing her to six years in prison. Karamzadeh and her lawyer went to court, and the court agreed to hold a retrial. However, this time too, the court, headed by Judge Seyedali Mazloom, without considering the defense arguments of Karamzadeh and her lawyer, repeated the previous sentence and condemned her to six years in prison.
This person close to Karamzadeh, who was unwilling to publish his name due to concerns about jeopardizing his own security, said that during the court proceedings, Karamzadeh’s lawyer repeatedly objected to the judge, as according to him, the judge was deviating from the process of justice and was acting in the role of a prosecutor, gathering evidence to convict Karamzadeh, rather than judging.
This is not the first time Zila Karamzadeh Makundeh has been arrested and sentenced to prison. She was previously arrested during the 2009 presidential election protests, known as the Green Movement. At that time, Karamzadeh was convicted in court on charges of “gathering and conspiracy with intent to commit crimes against internal security” and served her sentence in Evin Prison. According to the source close to Karamzadeh, the process of that trial was also not fair.
International human rights organizations and the United States have accused the Islamic Republic of violating freedom of expression and suppressing civil activists, and have called for the release of journalists imprisoned solely for performing their duties. The United States has repeatedly and in various instances condemned violent conduct and widespread suppression of protesters and civil activists, as well as repeated and continuous violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the regime governing that country.
Source: Voice of America
