Ghanbfarabadi: Sending Videos to Masih Alinejad Carries Up to 10 Years Prison Sentence

The head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Courts says sending any video related to “unveiling” to Masih Alinejad is subject to Article 508 of the Islamic Penal Code. The “Command to Good Headquarters” has accused the journalist of collaborating with a hostile country.

A few days ago, Jalil Mohammadi, secretary of Iran’s “Headquarters for the Revival of the Command to Good and Prohibition of Evil,” wrote in a tweet addressing the organizer of the “White Wednesdays” campaign: “You receive money from a country hostile to Iran, so you are their collaborators, and according to law, collaboration with you is a crime, and the Revolutionary Court will condemn your collaborators as before.” Mohammadi warned citizens that sending videos to the enemy is a crime and subject to legal prosecution.

On Monday, the 28th of July, the head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Courts announced: “Taking videos from military installations, private spaces, and filming for the purpose of collaborating with a hostile state is a crime.”

According to the Fars News Agency quoting Mousavi Ghanbfarabadi: “Given Alinejad’s cooperation agreement with Americans, anyone who takes videos of themselves or others related to unveiling and sends them to this woman will be subject to Article 508 of the Islamic Penal Code and will face between one to ten years imprisonment.”

Ghanbfarabadi added that the issue is not limited to videos in the field of unveiling: “Rather, any video that is against the Islamic Republic system and is sent to this woman will be subject to this article.”

The matter stems from a video released by girls protesting mandatory hijab from a “promoter of virtue” in Tehran’s Saadabad Metro station. Sadegh Beitarafan claimed that after the video was released, he received threats. Fars writes: “A few days ago, when Sadegh Beitarafan, a cultural activist, remonstrated with unveiled women at one of Tehran’s metro stations, a video of his promotion of virtue immediately reached the organizer of the unveiling operations in the West, causing the cultural activist to face a wave of threats.”

Fars called Masih Alinejad a “close friend of Zionists” and wrote: “Campaigns like ‘White Wednesdays’ carried out by a close friend of Zionists and with the support of enemies of the Iranian people to promote unveiling have no purpose but overthrow, and from the tune of ‘women’s freedom’ and ‘equality of women and men’s rights’ or ‘no to mandatory hijab,’ only the sharp smell of enmity toward Islamic rulings and the laws of the Islamic country reaches one’s nostrils.”

Protest and Criminalization

Before the statements of the head of the Revolutionary Courts, the Command to Good Headquarters deemed sending videos of virtue promoters a crime and said it would support Beitarafan by introducing a lawyer, filing a complaint, and pursuing other measures. Sadegh Beitarafan also says he intends to file a complaint against Masih Alinejad with Interpol and is prepared to go to Europe for this purpose.

Ms. Alinejad responded on her Facebook page that she welcomes any opportunity to present “sexual apartheid in the Islamic Republic” in international courts. The organizer of the “White Wednesdays” campaign also called the statements of the secretary of the Command to Good Headquarters “a clear example of creating terror and fear as well as criminalization of gathering documents and evidence of human rights violations by victims of it” and responded to Jalil Mohammadi by writing: “…I should file a complaint against you for the crime of harassing citizens and imposing Islamic hijab on them so that your name is placed on the list of human rights violators. Learn that no one has the right to harass others in the street.”

This women’s rights activist says Jalil Mohammadi, with his statements, on one hand permitted verbal and physical violence against women protesting mandatory hijab, and on the other hand criminalized documenting these acts of violence. She announced that “she will use all available international legal channels to pursue justice and hold Jalil Mohammadi accountable.”

Criminalization of protest against mandatory hijab in Iran has been repeatedly condemned by human rights organizations. Currently, at least eight people are imprisoned for supporting the White Wednesdays campaign and face charges such as “promoting obscenity and corruption,” “propaganda against the system,” and “actions against national security.”

Recently, in response to the White Wednesdays campaign, a group of Basij members launched the “Golden Wednesdays” campaign to encourage women to wear headscarves. The “Salam-e No” website called this action a copycat move and a stamp of approval on the effectiveness of Masih Alinejad’s campaign.

Ms. Alinejad faced considerable ridicule after meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State in February 2019. Iran’s Attorney General addressed her with insulting language and called her part of a “infiltration current.” At the same time, citizens and social media users deemed her meeting with Mike Pompeo inappropriate and harmful given the conditions of sanctions on Iran. This civil activist stated the reason for her meeting with Pompeo was to gain the support of the U.S. government for the protests of the Iranian people.

Source: DW