Journalist Marzieh Amiri Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison, 147 Lashes

iran-hrm – Marzieh Amiri, a journalist and student activist was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison and 147 lashes, her sister Samira Amiri tweeted August 24.

Reporting the verdict, Samira Amir tweeted that her sister must serve a minimum of six years of her sentence (according to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code) if the verdict is upheld by the appeals court.

Journalist Marzieh Amiri, 32, was covering the Labor Day rally for the Shargh newspaper when she was arrested near Baharestan Sq. in front of the regime’s Parliament building.

Ms Amiri was held in a secret detention facility run by the Revolutionary Guards until 8 May, when she was moved to section 209 of Evin prison and placed in solitary confinement for 35 days. On 8 June, she was moved to the women’s ward of Evin prison.

An undergraduate student in sociology at the University of Tehran, Marzieh Amiri was on August 13 taken to Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided by notorious Judge Mohammad Moghiseh and charged with “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the state” and “disturbing public order.”

Marzieh Amiri was among a number of labor activists who had been arrested during their protest demonstration in Tehran on the International Labor Day.

Earlier, Nasrin Javadi (Azam Khezri), a labor activist who was arrested on International Labor Day in Tehran, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and 74 lashes.

Ms. Nasrin Javadi is a former employee of the Medical Distribution Company and the retiree of the Social Security Organization, a member of the founding board of the Social Security Retirement Labor Council, and a member of the Free Union of Iran Workers.

Other female labor activists currently in prison include Neda Naji, Atefeh Rangriz, Marzieh Amiri, Anisha Assadollahi, Sanaz Allahyari, Sepideh Qolian, and Asal Mohammadi.

Amiri was previously arrested on March 8, 2018, at a rally in front of the Labor Ministry in Tehran on International Women’s Day. She was released four days later.

In its annual report published in April 2019, media rights group Reporters Without Borders said Iran slipped further toward the bottom of its World Press Freedom index because of an increase in arrests of Iranian journalists and citizen-journalists.