Tabriz Activist Sentenced to Nearly Two Years in Prison

An Iranian court has sentenced Armita Pavir, an activist incarcerated in the northwestern city of Tabriz, to a total of 22 months and 17 days in prison, IranWire has learned. 

The Azershahr Revolutionary Court issued the sentence after convicting Pavir of "propaganda against the system" and "insulting” the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Under the Islamic Penal Code, 15 months and one day of the sentence will be enforceable if the sentence is upheld on appeal.

Pavir was first detained during protests in Tabriz on October 31 last year.

Before that, she was expelled from Tabriz’s Azerbaijan Civil University for her student activism.

The activist ran a Telegram channel where he shared her daily experiences and emphasized the need to keep up the resistance against the Islamic Republic to bring changes in her country.

Her latest arrest occurred on September 13. 

Security agents have retained her mobile phone and electronic devices and pressured her to sign a letter of apology to justify her arrest.

The judiciary claimed to have arrested her for "financial" reasons, citing a debt she allegedly owed the university for running a café at Tabriz Madani University. 

However, an informed source has told IranWire that this was merely a pretext, as she remained incarcerated despite having paid the debt and damages.

In an audio file received by IranWire, Pavir said she had launched her hunger strike on November 12, the second since her arrest, in protest of her incarceration.