U.S. State Department Calls for Immediate Release of Sepideh Qolian

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. State Department has called for the immediate release of Sepideh Qolian, a human rights defender imprisoned in Iran.

The bureau said on Friday, March 11, in a Twitter message: Sepideh Qolian, a human rights defender, is seriously ill in the notorious Evin prison.

The tweet continued: Sepideh (Qolian) has been imprisoned for her peaceful opposition and because she has clearly spoken out about widespread torture in Iranian prisons, she has become a target of Iranian authorities.

Sepideh Qolian, who was sentenced to five years in prison for her presence at Haft Tapeh workers’ protests, is currently being held in Evin prison.

Previously, while in Bushehr prison, she exposed widespread violations of the rights of female prisoners and their use for sexual exploitation through temporary marriage (“Sigeh Moqatti”) for “male prisoners in the financial ward with the coordination of the ward supervisor.”

Recently, Ms. Qolian sent a letter from Evin prison emphasizing that “spread the names of these women by word of mouth,” calling attention to imprisoned women including Maryam Haji Hosseini, Niloofar Bayani, Nahid Taghavi, Zahra Serou, Shahre (Leila) Gholi-Khani, Golara Abbasi, Zahra Zahtabchi, and Sepideh Kashani.

Source: Voice of America