Zahra Shafeii, an author, documentary film producer, and former political prisoner, suffered a brain stroke due to the blows struck to her head during her arrest on a street in Tehran on September 16, 2023, the anniversary of the 2022 Iran uprising.
On Friday, May 10, 2024, Mr. Saeed Dehghan, a lawyer, wrote on his X account that Ms. Zahra Shafeii had been taken to a hospital the previous Thursday for brain surgery to remove a tumor.
Zahra Shafeii was violently arrested by Guidance Patrol agents on September 16, 2023, coinciding with the anniversary of the death of Zhina Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Morality Police. This event sparked a nationwide uprising lasting six months. She was temporarily released on bail on November 20, 2023.
She had previously recounted how she was arrested on Enghelab Avenue in Tehran, describing how several male and female agents viciously beat her in an unusually harsh manner.
Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced her to nine years and six months of imprisonment last year.
In the initial days of her arrest, Zahra Shafeii exposed the violent treatment of detainees by female security forces. Clad in black chadors, military uniforms, and black masks, they insulted, humiliated, and brutalized young women and girls, transporting them to undisclosed locations.
