Amnesty International Calls for Freedom of Yasmine Ariyanejad
Amnesty International, through the release of an appeal, called for immediate action regarding the unconditional release of Yasmine Ariyanejad, a civil activist imprisoned in Iran.
Amnesty International announced on Wednesday, November 6, through this appeal on its Telegram channel, that this civil activist has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for her efforts to abolish mandatory hijab, and her punishment is part of the widespread repression of women who are fighting against the discriminatory mandatory hijab law.
The appeal states that the authorities of the Islamic Republic should not have the right to take away Yasmine’s best years of life simply because she believes women should be free to choose their clothing.
This human rights organization is calling on people and human rights activists around the world to support this organization in securing Yasmine Ariyanejad’s freedom, a civil activist and theater actress, by signing this appeal and demanding that Iran’s authorities immediately and unconditionally release her.
Yasmine Ariyanejad was arrested on Wednesday, April 11, by law enforcement officers at her father’s home, and just one day after her arrest, her mother, Manirah Arabshahi, was also arrested and taken to prison.
Approximately 16 days after Ms. Ariyanejad and her mother’s arrest, Moj Gavan Khavari, a civil activist and protester against mandatory hijab, was arrested on Thursday, May 26, in front of her 9-year-old daughter’s eyes by officials of the Ministry of Intelligence at her private residence.
According to available information, the reason for the arrest of these three individuals was celebrating International Women’s Day by giving flowers to women in Tehran’s metro.
These three civil activists, nearly four months after their arrest, were sentenced by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court to 16 years in prison each on charges of “gathering and conspiracy with the intention of acting against national security,” “propaganda against the system,” and “encouragement and provision of corruption and obscenity.” According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, 10 years of this sentence for each of them will be enforceable as the severest punishment.
Amnesty International, in another section of this appeal, again calls on people and human rights activists to sign this appeal and demand that Iran’s authorities immediately and unconditionally release all women’s rights defenders who are imprisoned for peaceful protests against mandatory hijab.
In June of this year, this human rights organization, while recounting the role of mandatory hijab in the daily lives of Iranian women and girls, referred to sometimes very violent confrontations by moral police officers with women who do not have complete hijab.
The U.S. State Department has also repeatedly condemned the violent behavior of the Islamic Republic regime against the Iranian people for various pretexts, including dealing with freedom of choice in clothing, and the repeated and continuous violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the regime’s agents.
Source: Voice of America
