Sepideh Rashno, a student activist, writer, and poet known for her opposition to the mandatory hijab, took to her Instagram page on Thursday, February 15, 2024, to announce that the sentence of three years and eleven months of imprisonment has been enforced against her. She revealed that she must report to the Implementation of the Verdicts Office at Evin Prison in the coming days.
Furthermore, Rashno disclosed that she was immediately banned from leaving the country upon the case reaching the Implementation of the Verdicts Office.
In July 2022, Sepideh Rashno was arrested and coerced into confessing on state television after she protested the mandatory hijab and resisted the interference of a woman named Rayeheh Rabiei, who confronted her about her attire on a bus. Before this incident, Rashno had a history of arrests and convictions stemming from her activities.
She received a three-year and seven-month prison sentence for her involvement in the bus protest. In another case, she was sentenced to four months in prison for publicly announcing her suspension from university studies. In a third instance, she was fined one and a half million tomans for appearing in court without wearing the mandatory hijab.
Background on the case of Sepideh Rashno
Sepideh Rashno received a warning from a female vice patrol about her clothing when she got onto a (Rapid Transit-BRT) bus in Tehran on July 16, 2022. She refused to keep silent, and a dispute broke out between them. The female agent was thrown off the bus by other passengers who witnessed the incident.
On July 18, 2022, Intelligence Ministry agents arrested Sepideh and tortured her under interrogation.
After she disappeared for several days, Iranian state television aired her “confessions” on July 31. She appeared to be in a poor physical state, and bruises were evident around her eyes. She was made to apologize to Rayeheh, though she was offended and attacked by her and asked to be pardoned.
Sepideh Rashno, 29, comes from Khorramabad, western Iran, but currently resides in Tehran.
Following her arrest, Sepideh was transferred to solitary confinement in Ward 2A of Evin Prison and interrogated. Ms. Rashno was denied a defendant’s fundamental rights, including contact with her family and access to an attorney. The interrogators forced her to plead guilty on television by threatening and intimidating her.
Sepideh was transferred to Talegani Hospital in Tehran on August 5, 2022. A source informed of the transfer said, “Sepideh Rashno was taken to Talegani Hospital in Tehran overnight with several agents surrounding her. She had to be X-rayed for the risk of internal bleeding caused by the blows to her abdominal cavity.”
Witnesses at the scene of Ms. Rashno’s transfer to the hospital saw her trembling and unable to walk right. Sepideh’s blood pressure had also dropped.
The security forces did not allow Sepideh to speak to others and refused her privacy during the doctor’s examination. The authorities returned her to the detention center that night.
As Sepideh was hospitalized in the emergency section, the atmosphere soon turned tense. The medical staff were not allowed to use their mobile phones.
Ms. Rashno was temporarily released on a bail of 800 million Tomans on August 30, 2022, after 1.5 months of detention.
In April 2023, she was banned from entering the university and was denied the opportunity to continue her studies for two semesters.
