Prominent Iranian political prisoner Fatemeh Sepehri has expressed hope that the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East will lead to the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
In a video clip released on October 16 from Ghaem Hospital in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Sepehri condemned the Hamas attack on Israel and criticized the "agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran" for supporting the Palestinian armed group.
"I emphatically declare that the Iranian nation stands in solidarity with the people of Israel," she said. "I hope [Hamas’s] ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ operation closes the Islamic Republic's case."
The outspoken activist emphasized that the people of Iran do not want war or the killing of innocent people and pointed out that peace has been elusive in the Middle East since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The HRANA news agency reported that Sepehri was granted a one-week leave from Mashhad’s Vakil Abad prison after posting a 900-million-toman ($18,000) bail.
Sepehri underwent heart surgery on October 1.
Her two brothers were arrested by security forces when they went to Ghaem Hospital to visit the activist.
Sepehri, a pro-democracy advocate, was arrested in Mashhad on September 12, 2022, and was sentenced in February this year to a total of 18 years in prison on charges including “propaganda against the regime,” “cooperating with hostile countries” and “insulting” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini.
She is one of the 14 signatories of a 2019 statement calling for Khamenei’s resignation, the abolition of the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a secular government.
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