Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced engineering student Samaneh Asghari to 18 years and three months in prison on Monday, March 6, 2023. Ms. Asghari is an industrial engineering student at Kharazmi University.
If this sentence is approved in the appeal stage, by applying Article 134 of the Penal Code, the maximum punishment of six years and three months will be applicable to Ms. Asghari.
Samaneh Asghari, a children’s rights activist and an industrial engineering student at Kharazmi University, was arrested on October 11, 2022, and detained in Ward 209 of Evin Prison. She was later transferred to Qarchak Prison, where she remains in custody.
According to the indictment issued by Branch 8 of the Shahr-e Ray Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, Samaneh Asghari faces a range of serious charges, including “assembly and collusion to commit a crime against internal and external security,” “disrupting public order and peace,” “sedition,” “inciting people to fight and kill each other with the intention of disrupting the country’s security,” “propaganda against the state,” “being in public without a religious hijab,” “membership in domestic groups or branches of groups whose aim is to disrupt the country’s security,” and “spreading lies.”
Samaneh Asghari’s lawyer said the court had rejected her request for temporary release.
Civil activist Sorour Molaei sentenced to 3.5 years in prison
The first branch of the Sanandaj Criminal Court sentenced civil activist Sorour Molaei to three years and six months in prison.
Sorour Molaei, 38, a mountaineer, environmental activist, and education department teacher from Sanandaj, was arrested by IRGC intelligence forces on October 26, 2022, during the 40th-day memorial of Mahsa Amini in Sanandaj.
She had been released on bail after two weeks of interrogation in the detention center of the IRGC Intelligence, pending the completion of the proceedings.
Sarina Mahmoud Salehi arrested for spreading the news of the poisoning
Sarina Mahmoud Salehi, a 19-year-old animation student at Karaj Technical and Vocational University, was arrested on March 2, 2023, for spreading the news of poisoning the university’s students.
Case of Taraneh Jameh Bozorgi sent to the Appeals Court
The case of the poet and songwriter Taraneh Jameh Bozorgi was referred to the Appeals Court of Qom province.
Taraneh Jameh Bozorgi, a poet and songwriter from Qom, was arrested by state forces in December 2022 during the nationwide protests. Sometime later, she was temporarily released on bail until the proceedings ended.
Ms. Taraneh Jameh Bozorgi had been sentenced to one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the state” at the preliminary court.
Political prisoner Sakineh Parvaneh is re-arrested
On March 7, 2023, Sakineh Parvaneh, a former political prisoner, was arrested by the security forces in Tehran and taken to an unknown location. There is no information about the reason for his arrest and his whereabouts.
Sakineh Parvaneh was arrested by IRGC intelligence agents in 2019 and was finally sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran and, as a supplementary punishment, to 2 years of being banned from being a member of political organizations. She had been released in mid-February this year.
