A student activist was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of "propaganda against the regime."
A student activist was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Branch 36 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal for participating in a special Student Day program.
Fereshteh Toosi, a student activist who recently graduated from Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges of "propaganda against the regime through participation in the special Student Day program of the Islamic Association of Freethinking Students of this university," which was held in 2016.
On Monday, October 24, attorney Amir Raisian told IRNA about the verdict that the student had previously been accused of propaganda activities against the regime and, due to a previous conviction on the same charge in 2014, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and banned from membership in political parties, groups, factions, and activities in cyberspace, the media, and the press, and from leaving the country.
This student activist's verdict was also upheld in the Court of Appeals this year.
Over the past year, the harsh sentences handed down to arrested students have drawn criticism from students, professors, and human rights activists.
Parisa Rafiei, another young student and union activist, was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in September of last year. She has written an open letter addressing the conditions of Iranian political activists in detention.
In February of last year, Amnesty International called 2018 the "year of shame" for the Islamic Republic, announcing that more than seven thousand people, including participants in demonstrations, students, journalists, women's rights activists, environmental activists, labor activists, and ethnic and religious minority rights activists, had been arrested in Iran this year.
Source: Voice of America
