Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals has upheld the one-year prison sentence for Motahareh Goonehi, a suspended student from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court had initially handed down the sentence.

The charges stem from Gonei’s protest against the death sentence of Toomaj Salehi and her public comments regarding the “murder and assault” of Nika Shakarami. The Court of Appeals convicted her of “propaganda against the regime in favor of anti-revolutionary media.”

Goonehi was arrested by IRGC intelligence forces on May 1, 2023, and transferred to Evin Prison. She was released on bail four days later. Earlier, she and her husband, Mehdi Hadizadeh, both students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, had been temporarily suspended and transferred to Ardabil University. More recently, Goonehi was expelled from Tehran University, and her academic file was forwarded to Ardabil University.

A dentistry student and activist, Goonehi had previously been arrested during the 2022 nationwide protests.