Source: RadiaFarda (RFE/RL)
Iranian labor activist Sepideh Gholian has been handed a two-year prison sentence for chanting a slogan against Iran’s supreme leader shortly after her recent release from detention.
Gholian was released from prison on March 15. As she left the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, she shouted, “Khamenei, the tyrant, we will bury you in the ground,” a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A video of her comments was circulated on social media, and four hours after her release she was rearrested.
Mehdi Gholian, Sepideh’s brother, said on his Instagram page that Sepideh was handed the two-year sentence and now faces another stint in prison before her life could return to normal after her previous incarceration.
“We received the news yesterday [May 4] that Sepideh has been sentenced to another two years in prison, which effectively means starting over what we thought had just ended,” he said.
Iran’s judiciary has not commented publicly on the sentence.
Gholian was originally arrested along with more than a dozen activists, protest organizers, and workers during the Haft Tappeh Sugar Factory strike in November 2018. While most were released on bond the next day, Gholian was imprisoned for a month.
Her release from prison in Ahvaz in December 2018 was short-lived as she was again arrested in January 2019 after Iranian state television aired footage in which it purported to show Gholian confessing to taking part in alleged Western-backed efforts to overthrow the government. She promptly countered those accusations on social media by saying she had been beaten and forced to make a false confession.
Her release in March 2023 was part of an amnesty granted by Khamenei to hundreds of prisoners.
Gholian declared during her incarceration that she does not recognize the legitimacy of the Islamic republic’s “sham trials” and will not participate in any court proceedings as long as the government continues its oppressive policies against activists and dissenters.
Unrest has rattled Iran since last summer in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of insurance support. Labor law in Iran does not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.
Adding to the dissent, the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly breathed new life into demonstrations, which officials across the country have since tried to quell with harsh measures.
The activist HRANA news agency said that more than 500 people have been killed during the unrest, including 71 minors, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.
Thousands have been arrested in the clampdown, with the judiciary handing down harsh sentences — including the death penalty — to protesters.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
