The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran vehemently condemns the flogging of Ms. Roya Heshmati on the fictitious charge of improper veiling and the sentencing of Ms. Farzaneh Barzekar, mother of slain protester Erfan Rezaii, to 24 months of imprisonment.
The NCRI Women’s Committee calls upon the UN and international bodies advocating for human rights and women’s rights to take a decisive stance against the mullahs’ misogynistic regime and their inhumane punishments.
The mullahs’ Judiciary attempted to justify its inhumane practices by accusing Roya Heshmati of allegedly promoting and sanctioning unlawful activities (“ebahegari”) and engaging in “organized action in return for receiving some money from abroad.”
The Judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, stated on January 6, 2024, “The verdict was carried out according to the law and sacred Sharia. The specific areas (for the flogging punishment) have been clearly specified in the law and the verdict.”
Roya Heshmati, 33, was sentenced to 74 lashes and fined 1.25 million Tomans.
In another unjust verdict delivered by the mullahs’ Revolutionary Court in Amol, Ms. Farzaneh Barzekar, mother of the slain 2022 protester Erfan Rezaii, was sentenced to a 24-month prison term. The charges against her included “insulting” Ali Khamenei, the mullahs’ leader, and disseminating “propaganda against the state.”
The NCRI Women’s Committee urges relevant international authorities, including the UNSR on human rights in Iran and the UNSR on violence against women and girls, to strongly condemn the inhumane and anti-Islamic verdicts issued by the mullahs’ religious and misogynistic dictatorship. Additionally, the clerical regime must be expelled from all United Nations human rights agencies.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran – Women’s Committee
January 7, 2024