Sulmaz Hassanzadeh, the justice-seeking sister of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment by Branch 101 of the Criminal Court of Bukan on charges of “propaganda against the state.”
On July 30, 2024, during a ceremony commemorating Mohammad Hassanzadeh, a victim of the 2022 nationwide Iran uprising, on his birthday, security forces launched an attack on his family home in Bukan. They violently arrested his father and sister, Ahmad and Sulmaz Hassanzadeh.
The situation escalated as they physically assaulted his mother and two neighbor women. The incident occurred while the Hassanzadeh family prepared to commemorate their late son’s birthday.
Sulmaz Hassanzadeh, Mohammad’s sister, bore the brunt of the assault. Security forces used a stun gun on her knees during her arrest. When her mother attempted to intervene, she was punched in the chest and fell to the ground, subsequently requiring hospitalization.
Meanwhile, two neighbor women who tried to document the security forces’ actions had their mobile phones confiscated and were also physically beaten.
On Wednesday, July 31, only one day after her arrest, Sulmaz Hassanzadeh, 30, was transferred to the women’s ward of the Central Prison of Urmia.
After 14 days in detention and an 8-day hunger strike, Sulmaz Hassanzadeh was temporarily released on bail of 500 million tomans on Tuesday, August 13.
Ms. Hassanzadeh had been previously arrested and detained on September 27, 2023.
