Citizenship Rights; Assault of Yasmin Aryani, Civil Activist, by Fellow Inmates

Yasmin Aryani, a civil activist imprisoned in Kokuyeh Prison in Karaj, was assaulted by fellow inmates on Wednesday, the 4th of Esfand, who are serving sentences for ordinary crimes.

The human rights website “Hrana” reported, citing an informed source, that Yasmin Aryani has been deprived of the right to participate in prison cultural activities, including access to the library and participation in theater, and when she intended to meet with the ward supervisor to protest this matter, she was assaulted by a number of her fellow inmates.

Yasmin Aryani and her mother, Manizhe Arabshahi, were arrested in Farvardin of 1398 (2019) following the publication of a video showing them without headscarves in the Tehran metro distributing flowers among women.

This mother and daughter, opposed to mandatory hijab, were each sentenced to 16 years in prison a few months later in Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Mohammad Moghisseh. The sentence was reduced to 9 years in the appeals court.

This is not the first time a political prisoner in Iran has been assaulted by inmates serving sentences for ordinary crimes. Similar incidents have occurred previously, including the assault of Saba Kordafshariand Sheila Manfard by inmates serving ordinary crime sentences at Qarchak Prison in Varamin and the killing of Alireza Shirmohammadali, a political prisoner held in Tehran’s Greater Prison (Fashafouyeh), by two inmates charged with murder.

In recent years, a number of political prisoners have criticized the non-adherence to the principle of separation of crimes in various Iranian prisons.

Human rights defenders say that the transfer of political prisoners to the wards of ordinary criminals is in many cases done for the purpose of “punishment and increasing pressure” on these prisoners.

Source: Voice of America