Amnesty International asks for Urgent Action
Amnesty International Norway ask for “Urgent Action” regarding a 24-year-old Iranian woman, Yasaman Aryayee.
Yasaman Arayee has been sentenced to 16 years in jail after her video of distributing flowers among Iranian veiled women in Tehran’s subway went viral. Based on this video, the court sentenced Yasama, her mother (Monireh Arabshahi), and Mojgan to a total of 55 years in jail. They have been convicted charged with criminal acts such as “disruption of public peace”, “propaganda against the government” and “inciting prostitution through unveiling and distribution of flower on the subway.”
The video which went viral
On March 8th, 2019, Yasaman, Monireh, and Mojgan decided to celebrate the international women’s day on the subway in Tehran. They removed their veils in the “women-only” wagon and distributed flowers among other, veiled, women. In this video, they express the wish that “one day all the Iranian women won’t have to fight for their natural right (freedom of dress) and whether they are veiled or unveiled will be free and united.”
Based on this video, after a sham trial on July 31st, the three women were sentenced to a total of 55 years in prison. Yasaman and her mother, Monireh, received a 16 years sentence each, Mojgan got 23 years and 6 months. None of the women had access to lawyers during the trial, and all three report being verbally abused and threatened by the judge.
Why is the video important?
Ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, women and their issues have been subject to suppression by the Iranian authorities. The forced veiling rules that was imposed shortly after the revolution have been defied by Iranian women since.
In 2014, an Iranian civil and women rights activist, Masih Alinejad, launched a campaign on Facebook called “My Stealthy Freedom“. She invited Iranian women to send her the pictures and videos to tell about themselves and their “Stealthy Freedom“. The campaign received a huge welcome from Iranian women residing in Iran.
After some time, Masih launched another campaign “The White Wednesdays”, in this campaign she challenged the 40 years enforced veiling. Women sent her videos showing that they have worn either a white dress or veil and/or that they have removed their veil to protest peacefully against the forced veil rule.
A while later, these women faced horrendous and vicious attacks from the religious authorities. The confrontation escalated when the unveiled women documented the verbal and physical violent attacks by the religious officials.
To control the situation, the officials announced that sending such videos to Masish is to be considered a criminal act, and will be punishable by 10 years imprisonment. It, however, seems that even jail sentences haven’t dissuaded Iranian women from echoing their voice to the world.
References
16 years in prison for dropping the hijab
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This article is written by Zahra Moravvej for Norway Today.
© #Norway Today