“Beating” and Arrest of Sohila Hejab, Civil Activist, After Appeal Court Session
Sohila Hejab, a lawyer and civil activist from Kermanshah, reported in an audio file her arrest accompanied by beating after the end of an appeal court session.
Ms. Hejab, who has been sentenced to 18 years in prison, spoke in a phone conversation from Qarchak Prison in Varamin, which was distributed by civil activists on social media, about how she was beaten and arrested on Saturday, the third of Khordad.
In this audio file, she states: “After being summoned to Branch 36 of the Tehran Province Court of Appeal and after the completion of the court session at the appeal stage, while leaving the court building, I was arrested by officers of the Tharallah garrison of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accompanied by severe beating and transferred to Qarchak Prison.”
As she recounted, an officer grabbed her hair and dragged her “on the asphalt” while other officers “beat this woman with fists and kicks on the back, sides, head and face.”
This lawyer adds that she is to be taken to the prosecutor’s office and after that she will be transferred to IRGC safe houses “for interrogation and prolonged solitary confinement.”
Sohila Hejab was sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison last Esfand on charges including “propaganda against the system,” “forming a group in pursuit of women’s rights,” and “calling for a referendum and constitutional amendment.”
Islamic Republic judicial authorities have so far made no statement regarding the reasons and manner of Ms. Hejab’s arrest.
The Hrana website also wrote that Sohila Hejab was arrested in Khordad 1398 by security forces and transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
She was later transferred to one of the Information Ministry’s safe houses and shortly after was returned to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
She had previously been arrested in Shiraz in Dey 1397 and after legal proceedings was sentenced to two years in prison, which was reduced and she was released from Adelabad Prison in Shiraz after serving five months following a pardon.
However, she was arrested again 10 days after her release by IRGC Intelligence forces.
The reason for the arrest of this civil activist born in 1369, according to this security institution, was stated as “support for one of the organizations opposing the system.”
Source: Radio Farda
