ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran has sentenced a woman to two years in jail for her protest of the country’s mandatory hijab law, a rights group reported.
Narges Hosseini “has been sentenced to two years in prison for removing her headscarf in public in Tehran,” stated the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on Thursday.
Hosseini, 32, was arrested on January 29. She is one of an estimated more than 30 women who have been arrested for protesting the head-covering law by removing their headscarves in public and holding them aloft.
Without revealing the identity of the woman sentenced, Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said she "encouraged moral corruption" and criticized the verdict as too light.
The woman intends to appeal the sentence, Dolatabadi explained in Mizan Online news agency on Wednesday.
In early February, Hosseini had refused to appear in court. She is “not prepared to say she’s sorry,” her lawyer said at the time.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the arrests.
“For decades Iranian authorities have imposed a compulsory dress code on women violating their basic freedom to express themselves and restricting access to economic and social opportunities for anyone who refuses,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in February.
“Now when women are peacefully protesting a discriminatory dress code, authorities are adding to their misdeeds by arresting them.”
Narges Hosseini “has been sentenced to two years in prison for removing her headscarf in public in Tehran,” stated the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on Thursday.
Hosseini, 32, was arrested on January 29. She is one of an estimated more than 30 women who have been arrested for protesting the head-covering law by removing their headscarves in public and holding them aloft.
Without revealing the identity of the woman sentenced, Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said she "encouraged moral corruption" and criticized the verdict as too light.
The woman intends to appeal the sentence, Dolatabadi explained in Mizan Online news agency on Wednesday.
In early February, Hosseini had refused to appear in court. She is “not prepared to say she’s sorry,” her lawyer said at the time.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the arrests.
“For decades Iranian authorities have imposed a compulsory dress code on women violating their basic freedom to express themselves and restricting access to economic and social opportunities for anyone who refuses,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in February.
“Now when women are peacefully protesting a discriminatory dress code, authorities are adding to their misdeeds by arresting them.”
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