Iranian Mother To Serve Prison Term for Protesting Son's Death During Protests

The mother of Mohammad Javad Zahedi, a 20-year-old Iranian man killed during nationwide protests last year, says she has been summoned by the authorities to serve her prison sentence.

In an Instagram post on December 14, Mahsa Yazdani wrote that the judiciary has given her three days to hand herself over to the authorities.

Yazdani was sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison on charges of "insulting religious figures" and "insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic" for comments she made on social media over the killing of her son by government forces.

Last month, the ruling was upheld by Branch 8 of the Appeals Court of Mazandaran province.

Under the Islamic Penal Code, five years of the sentence will be enforceable. 

Yazdani expressed her grief on social media and called for justice after her son was fatally shot by police in the northern city of Sari. 

Zahedi is among more than 500 people killed by security forces during the unrest that erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained for an alleged headscarf violation. 

The government has exerted pressure on the victims' grieving families through collective arrests and summonings by security agencies with the aim of silencing them.