University of Tehran anthropology student Leila Hosseinzadeh was arrested by intelligence forces on Sunday, July 28, and transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence.
Tehran Province’s Appeals Court upheld a 2.5-year sentence and a two-year ban on traveling abroad against Leila Hosseinzadeh on June 24, 2019.
Leila Hosseinzadeh was the secretary of Tehran University students’ central council who had gotten arrested during the nationwide uprisings in December 2017-January 2018, but was later released on bail.
She had been previously sentenced to six years in prison and another two years of being deprived of leaving the country, on March 7, 2018, by Branch 26 of the Court of Tehran. Her first trial was held on October 22, 2018, and her revision hearing was held on May 14, 2019.
On Monday, June 24, 2019, Branch 36 of Tehran Appeals Court informed her that she has been sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment on the charge of “association and collusion against national security” and another one year for “propaganda against the state.” She is also banned from leaving the country for two years.
Iranian regime officials have admmitted high number of students being prosecuted for joining Iran’s December 2017/January 2018 protests.
“A list has been put together of the students detained in the December 2017 incidents and they number more than 150,” said Member of Parliament Parvaneh Salahshouri in an interview with the state-funded Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on July 10, 2018.
“So we’re not talking about just 55 or 90 students,” she added. “Unfortunately, the issue of student detentions is much more extensive.”
Salahshouri also told ILNA that 17 students had so far been sentenced to prison terms.
“The Intelligence Ministry is involved in some of the cases against these students and therefore the government and the ministry itself should explain what’s going on here,” Salahshouri said.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry operates under President Hassan Rouhani, who appointed Mahmoud Alavi as intelligence minister in August 2013.
