{"id":649,"date":"2015-06-02T20:12:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T20:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.bashariyat.org\/?p=649"},"modified":"2015-06-06T20:15:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-06T20:15:49","slug":"young-activist-sentenced-to-12-5-years-in-prison-for-facebook-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.bashariyat.org\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Young Activist Sentenced to 12.5 Years in Prison for Facebook Posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced artist and civil rights activist Atena Faraghdani to a total of 12.5 years in prison for drawings and content critical of the government that the young activist posted on her Facebook page.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Faraghdani\u2019s lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, stated in an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that under Article 134 of Iran\u2019s New Islamic Penal Code<\/a>, the sentence should be reduced to 7.5 years imprisonment. This article stipulates that in the case of multiple charges, sentencing will be limited to the maximum punishment for the crime with the heaviest sentence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moghimi noted that the ruling issued by the judge stated that Article 134 should be \u201cconsidered.\u201d The lawyer added that a 7.5-year prison sentence was \u201cthe maximum punishment for the charge of \u2018assembly and collusion against national security,\u2019\u201d one of the charges against her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe peaceful expression of dissent remains a red line in Iran,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director of the Campaign, \u201cCross it and you risk prison time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ghaemi added that the authorities particularly fear social media networks, which have become hugely popular in Iran, especially among the young, and have clamped down especially hard on any content deemed even remotely critical of state policies expressed on them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe court ruling was served to her and myself today [June 1, 2015]. We have 20 days to appeal, and we hope this ruling will be overturned by the Appeals Court,\u201d said Moghimi, Faraghdani\u2019s lawyer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The activist\u2019s charges are \u201cassembly and collusion against national security,\u201d \u201cpropaganda against the state,\u201d and \u201cinsulting the Supreme Leader, the President, Members of the Parliament, and the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] Ward 2-A agents\u201d who interrogated her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following five months inside Gharchak and Evin Prisons, Faraghdani was tried at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under Judge Salavati, a notorious judge who is consistently handpicked to preside over \u201cnational security\u201d cases that security and intelligence organizations bring against political and civil activists, because of the harsh and maximum sentences he imposes. Salavati is the judge presiding over the trial of the Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moghimi noted that one of the pieces of evidence used against his client was her sharing of a cartoon depicting members of the Iranian Parliament as animals on her Facebook page. Other evidence included Faraghdani\u2019s critical writings on her Facebook page, and her visits with families of political prisoners and protesters who were killed at the Kharizak Police Detention Center in 2009, in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to our laws, activities on social networks on the Internet are not recognized as crimes. In democratic countries, drawing cartoons to criticize those in power is an accepted practice. My client is an artist who expresses her thoughts through drawing cartoons, and she meant to criticize those in power,\u201d Mohammad Moghimi told the Campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, Article 8 of the Iranian Constitution expresses that it is upon everyone to \u2018prevent vice and promote virtue,\u2019 and this is a two-way responsibility both the nation and the state have\u00a0 vis-\u00e0-vis each other. Expressing criticism is also a part of freedom of opinion and expression,\u201d Moghimi said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Security agents arrested the painter and civil activist Atena Faraghdani on August 24, 2014, and transferred her to IRGC\u2019s Ward 2-A inside Evin Prison. She was released on bail on November 2, 2014. She published a video of herself, in which she spoke about an incident of aggressive strip search by female prison guards inside a solitary cell at Evin Prison. She said in the video that she had been ordered to take off her clothes, which she had refused.\u00a0The video<\/a> was widely viewed and discussed on social networks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the video was published, she was summoned to Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court on January 10, 2015, arrested, and transferred to Gharchak Prison in Varamin, outside Tehran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atena Faraghdani embarked on a hunger strike to protest her transfer to the deplorable Gharchak Prison, where political prisoners are not separated from hardened criminals, in violation of the principle of the separation of prisoners.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After her health deteriorated severely and she was transferred to a hospital on February 26, 2015, judicial authorities ordered her transfer back to Evin Prison on\u00a0March 2, where she has been ever since.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced artist and civil rights activist Atena Faraghdani to a total of 12.5 years in prison for drawings and content critical of the government that the young activist posted on her Facebook page.<\/p>

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