Iranian Prominent Activist Iraei Jailed for Five Years

An Iranian appeals court has sentenced Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraei, a prominent activist who has been jailed since her arrest at the start of last year’s nationwide protests, to five years in prison.

The Free Workers' Union of Iran said that the sentence was handed down by Branch 36 of the Court of Appeal of Tehran Province.

Rights groups have said that Iraei refused to take part in the court hearing, saying she did not recognize the legitimacy of the court.

The activist was arrested in September 2022 in a police raid on her home at the onset of the protest movement sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.

The Tehran Revolutionary Court initially sentenced her to seven years in April on charges of "assembly and collusion against the regime" and "propaganda against the regime." Hundreds of  Iranian political and civil activists issued a statement demanding her “immediate and unconditional” release, saying she had been sentenced "in a brutal, unfair, and vindictive process after months of indecision in detention."

Iraei is the wife of activist Arash Sadeghi, who was arrested with her but has now been released.

Well known for her campaigns on issues including stoning sentences and prison conditions, she had been arrested multiple times in the past.

In 2015, she was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of insulting sacred entities and engaging in propaganda against the regime.

The Iranian authorities have cracked down hard on last year’s months-long anti-government protests, killing more than 520 people during demonstrations and unlawfully detaining over 20,000 others, activists say. Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.