Sepideh Gholian Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

Civil rights activist Sepideh Gholian has been sentenced to two years in prison, according to her brother Mehdi Gholian.

Gholian was re-arrested on March 15, 2023, shortly after being released from Evin Prison while on her way from Tehran to Dezful. She was taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison and then transferred to the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison four days later.

The allegations against Gholian, a prominent civil rights activist, remain unknown at this time.

Gholian has previously been arrested and convicted for her activism.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 28, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 28th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) More than six protests were organized across the country. Several residents of Khash in Sistan and Balouchestan province, the customers of SAIPA and IranKhodro in Tehran, the municipality workers in Borujerd, the students of Farhanigian University in Tehran, bus drivers in Mashhad, and the workers of Dashtestan Rural Water Association have held separate protests to request their demands.

(2) A Kulbar (Kurdish back carrier), Hossein Balkhkanlou Aghdam, was killed after the Iranian border patrol opened fire to a group of Kulbars near Maku. Moreover, a landmine explosion injured two Kulbars in Baneh.

(3) A Baha’i citizen, Neda Shabani, was released on bail. Shabani and Soroush Agahi have been arrested in Karaj on November 28, 2018. Baha’i is Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority and are systematically persecuted by the government.

(4) Ali Nejati, labor activist, was released on bail. The former leader of the Syndicate of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane was arrested on November 29th, 2018. He was charged with “disrupting public order” and “propaganda against the state” through protesting.

(5) A person accused of murdering Saeed Parham, a park ranger in Shirvan, was sentenced to death after eight years.

(6) The court was in session for seven people, on the charge of “cooperation with a Kurdish opposition group” in Oshnavieh. They are identified as Koroush Azizi, Abubakr Minapak, Yousef Ahmadi, Kamel Ahmadi, Mohammad Amin Ghazi, Ayoub Bahramnejad, Tayeb Bamorovat.

(7) The workers of Parsefid abattoir in Amol, South Pars Petrochemical Industry, and HEPCO Company have at least three months of unpaid wages.

(8) A convict in the Golestan province received an alternate sentence for imprisonment. He is sentenced to plant a hundred trees in forest such as oak, maple, and hornbeam.

(9) Mehdi Gholian was released on bail. He was beaten and arrested because he asked for injunction from the security forces who raided his parents’ house to arrest his sister, Sepideh Gholian.

(10) A Baha’i citizen living in Yazd was arrested on January 28, 2019. Farzad Rouhani Manshadi, was sentenced along six other Baha’i citizens to three-year suspended prison term earlier in August 2018.

(11) In a bus rollover at the Bonab Islamic Azad University, six students were injured on January 28.

(12) An anti-addiction activist, Esmail Ebrahimi Viniche, was arrested for an unknown reason on January 16 and has been detained in Isfahan’s Dasgerd prison. He works in an addiction recovery center in Isfahan.

(13) Mostafa Mostafavi was transferred to Urmia prison after 27 days of being held in solitary confinement and interrogation in the Intelligence Office detention center.

(14) Baktash Abtin, a writer and member of the Iranian Writers Association, was released on bail. He was arrested along with two other writers, Keyvan Bazhan and Reza Khandan Mehrabadi on January 22 on the charge of “encouraging immorality or prostitution”.

(15) Two workers died and two others were injured in Tehran, Arak, and Dezful because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions in their workplaces. Iran ranked 102 in the workplace safety among other countries.

(16) Amir Nosratkhah was executed in the Zanjan prison on the charge of murder. Moreover, three prisoners accused of murder, were spared from hanging on gallows by consent of next of kin in Zanjan and Sirvan.

(17) Razgar Mohammadi, Yousef Rasouli, Adel Bakhshvari, and Mousa Esmaili were arrested in Piranshahr on the charge of “cooperation with a Kurdish opposition group”. Their whereabouts are still unknown.