An Appeals Court in Iran has upheld the prison sentences of three women rights activists for protesting compulsory hijab.
The sentence was reduced to a combined 31 years and seven months from an earlier total of 55 years and six months.
According to the verdict Monireh Arabshahi and her daughter Yasamin Ariany both were sentenced to nine years and seven months while Mojgan Keshvarz was sentenced to 12 years and secen months imprisonment.
Attorneys were not allowed to enter the court in the first instance and at the appeal. The court also refused to receive a defense bill from the three women’s rights activists.
Amir Raeesian who represents Monireh Arabshahi and Yasamin Ariany said in a tweet on Wednesday that his clients will challenge the verdict and want a retrial.
In August 2019, the initial sentences of these three women’s rights activists totaled 55 years, which triggered widespread international condemnation.
The three women’s rights defenders were arrested in April 2019 in relation to a video that went viral on social media,
showing them without their headscarves, distributing flowers to female passengers on a metro train on International
Women’s Day on 8 March 2019, and discussing their hopes for a future when all women in Iran would have the
freedom to choose what to wear.
The three women’s rights activists who are held at the notorious Qarchak prison were charged with “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” as well as “inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution” through promoting “unveiling” of women.
