{"id":89706,"date":"2020-10-15T06:09:03","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T11:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=89706"},"modified":"2020-10-15T06:09:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T11:09:42","slug":"auto-draft-262","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/10\/15\/auto-draft-262\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Moves Closer to Rejailing Female Rights Activist Over Criticism of Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article__content\">\n<div class=\"article__body\">\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-89707 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi.jpg 600w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-24x16.jpg 24w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-36x24.jpg 36w, https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jila-Karamzadeh-Makvandi-48x32.jpg 48w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON &#8211; Iran has moved a step closer to re-imprisoning a female human rights advocate for her peaceful expressions of opposition to the nation&#8217;s Islamist rulers. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to VOA Persian from Iran earlier this month, a source close to activist Jila Karamzadeh Makvandi said she was sentenced to six years in prison for participating in anti-government street protests and expressing anti-government views on social media. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The source said a Tehran branch of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary court notified Makvandi and her lawyer of the sentence on Sept. 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/index.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1312763967748571139&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.voanews.com%2Fmiddle-east%2Fvoa-news-iran%2Firan-moves-closer-rejailing-female-rights-activist-over-criticism&amp;siteScreenName=VOANews&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1312763967748571139\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Babak\u00a0Paknia, one of\u00a0Makvandi\u2019s\u00a0lawyers, reported the sentencing in an Oct. 4 tweet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The source told VOA Iranian judge Seyed Ali Mazloum ordered\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0to serve five years in prison for\u00a0\u201cgathering and conspiring against national security\u201d\u00a0and one year for spreading anti-government propaganda.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under Iranian law,\u00a0Makvandi\u2019s\u00a0effective jail term would be five years. She remains free on bail, pending an appeal, after authorities arrested her on Nov. 12, 2019, and held her for 20 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Paknia\u00a0appealed the sentence in a Sept. 29 filing with the judiciary, the source said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Iranian state-approved news agency\u00a0Ensaf\u00a0mentioned\u00a0Makvandi\u2019s\u00a0sentencing in an Oct. 5<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ensafnews.com\/261497\/%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C-%D8%AE%D8%B7-%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%B2-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%81-%D9%82%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D9%87%D9%85\/\"> article<\/a>\u00a0citing the opposition Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA). But there\u00a0has been\u00a0no\u00a0official\u00a0word from Iranian\u00a0authorities\u00a0about her case in state media or any announcement about when an appellate court would review her sentence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>VOA\u2019s source said\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0was detained for participating in anti-government protests that swept Iran last November in response to an unpopular hike in subsidized gas prices.\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0joined a peaceful rally at Tehran\u2019s Laleh Park and chanted slogans including\u00a0\u201cNo to poverty, war and dictatorship,\u201d\u00a0the source added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During her 20 days in detention, Iranian intelligence agents also interrogated\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0about her social media posts criticizing Iran\u2019s Islamist practice of compelling women to wear a hijab in public, the source said.\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0posted the critiques on\u00a0Instagram and Telegram.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The source said judge Mazloum initially sentenced\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0to six years in prison on the two charges of conspiracy and propaganda in February, but\u00a0Makvandi\u00a0and\u00a0Paknia\u00a0successfully appealed to the Iranian judiciary for a retrial. In the one-day\u00a0proceeding\u00a0on Sept. 7, the source said the same judge issued the same sentence and ignored the lawyer\u2019s argument that the\u00a0judicial\u00a0process was unfair.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If the sentence is upheld on appeal, it\u00a0would be\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ipa.united4iran.org\/en\/prisoner\/46\/\">Makvandi\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0second incarceration in a decade. She\u00a0previously served 20 months in prison,\u00a0from late Dec. \u00a02011 to Sept. 2013,\u00a0for participating in anti-government\u00a0protests against\u00a0the disputed 2009 re-election of then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following\u00a0Makvandi&#8217;s\u00a0arrest in Feb. 2010 for her peaceful role in the\u00a0\u201cGreen Movement\u201d\u00a0protests and her release on bail the following month, Iranian authorities sentenced her to two years in prison for the same charge that she currently faces,\u00a0\u201cgathering and conspiring against national security.\u201d\u00a0VOA\u2019s source\u00a0alleged\u00a0that previous trial also was unfair.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>This article originated in <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.voanews.com\/\">VOA\u2019s Persian Service<\/a>.\u00a0Click <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.voanews.com\/civil-rights\/iran-human-rights-activist-7\">here <\/a>for the original Persian version of the story.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON &#8211; Iran has moved a step closer to re-imprisoning a female human rights advocate for her peaceful expressions of opposition to the nation&#8217;s Islamist rulers. \u00a0\u00a0 Speaking to VOA Persian from Iran earlier this month, a source close to activist Jila Karamzadeh Makvandi said she was sentenced to six years in prison [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89706"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89709,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89706\/revisions\/89709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}