Atefeh Rangriz, Women’s and Workers’ Rights Activist, Sentenced to Over 11 Years in Prison and 74 Lashes

Atefeh Rangriz, a women’s and workers’ rights activist who was arrested during International Workers’ Day gatherings in Tehran, has been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court to serve eleven years and six months in prison and receive 74 lashes.

Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghisseh, sentenced Atefeh Rangriz to eleven years and six months in prison and 74 lashes on charges including “assembly and conspiracy against national security” and “disruption of public order.”

According to reports published on social media, the hearing on this civil activist’s charges was held on Mordad 14 at the Tehran Revolutionary Court, and the verdict was delivered to Atefeh Rangriz’s lawyer on Saturday, Shahrivar 9.

Atefeh Rangriz was arrested on Ordibehesht 11, coinciding with International Workers’ Day, during a protest gathering in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and was subsequently transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin.

This labor activist previously wrote a letter from Qarchak Prison in Varamin describing living conditions and circumstances at the prison, comparing the prison wards to train cars and the cells in each ward to train cabins, writing that “Qarchak is an alias for hell.”

Marzieh Amiri, a journalist and graduate student of sociology at the University of Tehran and another person arrested during International Workers’ Day in Tehran, has also recently faced heavy prison and flogging sentences.

Previously, Amnesty International issued a statement on the occasion of International Workers’ Day (May 1st) calling on the Islamic Republic’s authorities to immediately release workers and civil activists who were arrested during strikes and other peaceful protests.

The U.S. State Department also states that the Iranian regime has arrested thousands of protesters, civil activists, and representatives of workers and other professions in the past two years.

Additionally, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in Ordibehesht of this year strongly condemning the severe suppression of civil rights activists in Iran by the Islamic Republic regime and called for an end to persecution, torture, and imprisonment of activists, including women who are only demanding their basic and fundamental rights.

Source: Voice of America