An Iranian woman has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for removing her hijab to protest the compulsory Islamic covering in December, 2017. .

Shaparak Shajarizadeh took to her personal website to announce that she has been jailed for “opposing the compulsory hijab” and “waving a white flag of peace in the street”.

29 people were arrested in February by the police for removing their headscarves as part of a campaign known as “White Wednesdays.” .

Shajarizadeh, 42, was subjected to torture and beatings after her arrest, her lawyer said. In Iran, women showing their hair in public face penalties ranging from a $25 fine to prison time. </s> An Iranian woman who peacefully protested the obligatory hijab rule by removing her head scarf in public in Tehran in December says she has been sentenced to two years in prison in addition to an 18-year suspended prison term.

Shaparak Shajarizadeh also says she has left Iran to escape "injustices."

In a live broadcast shared widely on social media this week, Shajarizadeh said that she was sentenced to prison for opposing the compulsory hijab.

"This means that I will have to be silent for 20 years and not get involved in any activities," Shajarizadeh said on Instagram.

Prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who represented Shajarizadeh and other women arrested for opposing the compulsory hijab was arrested last month.

Shajarizadeh, 42, was released on bail in late April.

In a video posted online on July 9, she said she has left Iran.

"Due to the injustices in Iran's judicial system, I had to leave the country," she said.

Earlier this year, Iranian authorities announced they had detained 29 women who removed their head scarves as part of a campaign against the country's mandatory Islamic dress code.

Police claimed the women had been "tricked" into removing their veil by a propaganda campaign being conducted by Iranians living abroad.

Women's dress has been heavily scrutinized in Iran since the 1979 revolution, when adherence to an Islamic dress code became compulsory.

The dress code dictates that women's hair and body must be covered in public.

Morality police launch regular crackdowns on those who are not fully respecting rules relating to the hijab.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda and AP </s> An Iranian woman who removed her obligatory Islamic headscarf out of protest in December says she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Shapark Shajarizadeh posted on her personal website that she had been jailed for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street."

There was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

Police in Iran arrested 29 people in February for removing their headscarves as part of a campaign known as "White Wednesdays." Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer who represented Shajarizadeh and other women, was arrested last month.

Shajarizadeh, 42, was released on bail in late April. Her current whereabouts were unknown.

In Iran, women showing their hair in public face penalties ranging from a $25 fine to prison time. </s> An Iranian woman who protested the obligatory Islamic headscarf by removing it in public says she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Shapark Shajarizadeh, 42, was arrested in February after she was filmed standing on a traffic island in the Iranian capital Tehran, while waving her headscarf around on the end of a stick.

This week, she posted on her personal website that she had been jailed for 'opposing the compulsory hijab' and 'waving a white flag of peace in the street.'

Shajarizadeh was released on bail in late April after Amnesty reported that she had been charged with 'inciting corruption and prostitution'.

Her current whereabouts are unknown, and there has been no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

In a video posted on Twitter, Ms Shajarizadeh said she had fled the country upon being released on bail because she feared for her own safety.

In the month of February alone, Iranian police arrested 29 women for removing their headscarves in public as part of a campaign known as 'White Wednesdays.'

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer who represented Shajarizadeh and other women, was arrested last month.

The Islamic dress code, in place since the 1979 revolution, considers veiling obligatory for any female above 13 in Iran and says they should cover themselves from head to toe, while disavowing any figure-hugging clothes.

Breaking the rules can result in fines of up to 500,000 rials (£17) and up to two months in prison.

President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in 2013 promising a more moderate stance, has previously said it is not the job of police to enforce religious rules such as those forcing women to cover their hair.

But in April 2016, officials said there were 7,000 undercover morality police reporting on things like 'bad hijab' - a blanket term usually referring to un-Islamic dress by women.

Figures are rarely given, but Tehran's traffic police said in late 2015 they had dealt with 40,000 cases of bad hijab in cars, where women often let their headscarves drop around their necks.

These cases generally led to fines and a temporary impounding of the vehicle. </s> An Iranian woman who took off her headscarf and waved it from a stick in protest in December says she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Shapark Shajarizadeh posted on her personal website that she had been jailed for “opposing the compulsory hijab” and “waving a white flag of peace in the street.”

In Iran, women showing their hair in public face penalties ranging from a $26 fine to being locked up.

There was no immediate comment from officials of the Islamic Republic, the Associated Press reports.

Cops in Iran collared 29 women in February for removing their headscarves as part of a campaign known as “White Wednesdays.”

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer who represented Shajarizadeh and other women, was arrested last month.

Shajarizadeh, 42, was released on bail in late April. Her current whereabouts were unknown.

Back in January Sotoudeh raised concern over another protester after a different video of a girl waving a hijab in the street went viral.

An unidentified 31-year-old mom has not been seen in public since she stood on a pillar box along one of Tehran’s busiest street without a headscarf.

Sotoudeh said could not find out the woman’s name, but was told she was 31 years old and had a 19-month-old baby.

“What I am certain about is that this lady has been arrested,” she told AFP.

“The witnesses on the scene who saw her being taken away and even accompanied her to the police station gave me this information. I have no contact with her family.”

Sotoudeh said the woman’s protest appeared to show someone “at the end of their tether because of all the controls placed on her body over the 31 years of her life”.

“Women feel they have no control over their bodies. It is a prelude to infringing on all of their rights,” she said. </s> An Iranian woman who removed her hijab in public in protest in December says that she was sentenced to two years in prison and given another 18 years as a suspended sentence. Suspended sentences are a legal arrangement that lets a person skip jail time so long as they don't break any more laws.The woman, Shepark Shajarizadeh, 42, made the claims in a video posted to social media on July 10. On her personal website she wrote that she was imprisoned for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street."Shajarizadeh's lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told Amnesty International that she was placed in solitary confinement in a prison in Tehran and was beaten. Shajarizadeh was released on bail in late April. In June, Sotoudeh was reportedly arrested.US officials egged on the protest in January, with US President Donald Trump tweeting a pledge to provide "great support from the United States," and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley stating that "All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause," at a press conference on January 2.The day before Haley's remarks, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned of "external interference" in Iran during the unrest.The Iranian government has not commented on Shajarizadeh's claims. </s> The woman, Shepark Shajarizadeh, 42, made the claims in a video posted to social media on July 10. On her personal website she wrote that she was imprisoned for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street."

Her protest was part of a wider movement that resulted in the arrest of 35 people in Iran between December 2017 and February 2018, according to Amnesty International (media reports place the number arrested at 29). The women were arrested for removing their head coverings as a part of the "White Wednesdays" protest movement.

Shajarizadeh's lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told Amnesty International that she was placed in solitary confinement in a prison in Tehran and was beaten. Shajarizadeh was released on bail in late April. In June, Sotoudeh was reportedly arrested.

US officials egged on the protest in January, with US President Donald Trump tweeting a pledge to provide "great support from the United States," and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley stating that "All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause," at a press conference on January 2.

The day before Haley's remarks, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned of "external interference" in Iran during the unrest.

The Iranian government has not commented on Shajarizadeh's claims. </s> Can we hope that Iran, now in turmoil over many things, will try to stabilize itself by allowing its women simple human decency? In the last few weeks, two women have been arrested for removing their headscarves (20 years in jail!) or for posting pictures on social media of themselves dancing. These are religious offenses, and are deemed such because they inspire the lust of men. (Women, of course bear full responsibility for whatever men do when engorged with uncontrollable lust.)

The first detainee, Shaparak Shajarizadeh (click on screenshot below) was apparently sentenced to two decades in stir for removing the hijab in protest of its compulsory wearing, and for “waving a white flag of peace in the street.” (White Wednesdays, in which women wear clothing of that color, are part of women’s protest against Iranian oppression.) Note that the story was not verified by Iranian authorities.

And here’s a story from the Guardian (click on screenshot, also see story in the July 9 New York Times) about a woman being arrested for posting an Instagram video (see below) of herself dancing.

This innocuous video was deemed dangerous enough to warrant the arrest of Maedeh Hojabri:

From the story about Hojabri New York Times, which described on July 9 the kind of public morality shaming that women like Hojabri are subjected to.

Like many teenage girls, Maedeh Hojabri liked to dance in her bedroom, record it and post clips to Instagram. But Ms. Hojabri lives in Iran, where women are not allowed to dance, at least not in public. The 19-year-old was quietly arrested in May and her page was taken down, leaving her 600,000 followers wondering where she had gone. The answer came last Tuesday on state television, when some of her fans recognized a blurred image of Ms. Hojabri on a show called “Wrong Path.”There she sobbingly admitted that dancing is a crime and that her family had been unaware she had videos of herself dancing in her bedroom to Western songs like “Bonbon,” by Era Istrefi. Whatever the authorities’ intent, the public shaming of Ms. Hojabri and the arrest of others who have not been identified have created a backlash in a society already seething over a bad economy, corruption and a lack of personal freedoms.]

But there are signs that not just Iranian women are supporting the freedom to dress without veiling and to dance in public, but Iranians in general. As the Times notes,

Last week the judiciary warned that Instagram, which has 24 million users in Iran, might be closed because of its “unwanted content.” Ms. Hojabri, and other internet celebrities like her are called “antlers” by hard-liners for the way they stand out on Instagram. But the public seems squarely on the side of Ms. Hojabri. “Really what is the result of broadcasting such confessions?” one Twitter user, Mohsen Bayatzanjani, wrote, using special software to gain access to Twitter, which is also banned in Iran. “What kind of audience would be satisfied? For whom would it serve as a lesson, seriously?”

Western feminists shy away from these kinds of violations, so that hijabis are often viewed as heroes though many of them are unwilling victims of Islamic morality. This represents the victory of skin pigmentation (Muslims are perceived as “oppressed brown people”, though many are lighter than I am and they’re hardly oppressed in places like Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia) over feminism. The hierarchy of oppression is clear—skin color > sex—but why Muslim women in their own countries are seen as immune to oppression, or ignored by Western feminists, defies rational analysis. You won’t find a post like this one on most of the feminist websites.

In the meantime, however, Iranian women themselves know what’s going on, and are dancing in public in support of Hojabri. I am saddened but also heartened by this video of Iranian women dancing. If you want a running account of oppression, including both men and women, just go to #Iran. </s> The United States on Tuesday condemned reports that the Iranian government sentenced human rights lawyer and women’s rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh’s to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes. On Monday, Amnesty International demanded her immediate release and a quashing of her sentence.

Her husband Reza Khandan, on Facebook, said the verdict increases her imprisonment tenure to 38 years. In September 2016, she had been sentenced to five years in prison in another case.

US State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said the administration is outraged to hear reports about the sentencing. “This sentence is beyond barbaric,” Palladino said. “Her alleged crime was advocating for Iranian women’s rights and for defending other Iranian women who were arrested by the regime for peacefully protesting the mandatory hijab law. Nasrin was sentenced in absentia without a fair trial by the notorious revolutionary court, which is led by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, an accused human rights violator.”

Washington demanded her immediate release. “The Iranian people deserve a government that respects their legitimate demands and the human rights of all in Iran, not one that subjects them to prosecution in a justice system led by accused human rights violators,” Palladino said.

Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy director, described the sentencing as the harshest against a human rights defender in Iran in the recent years. “Her conviction and sentence consolidate Iran’s reputation as a cruel oppressor of women’s rights,” he said.

Sotoudeh was arrested at her home on in June 2018. The charges against her include “inciting corruption and prostitution”, “openly committing a sinful act by... appearing in public without a hijab” and “disrupting public order”.

The organisation has urged “governments with influence over Iran” to lobby for her release. “The international community, notably the European Union, which has an ongoing dialogue with Iran, must take a strong public stand against this disgraceful conviction and urgently intervene to ensure that she is released immediately and unconditionally.”

Meanwhile, the organisation said that the Islamic Republic News Agency had quoted Moghiseh as saying that Sotoudeh has been sentenced to seven years in prison for “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”.

In 2012, she won the European Parliament’s Sakharov rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile rights and political cases. She has several defended journalists and activists, including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Shaparak Shajarizadeh, one of the Iranian women in the Girls of Enghelab Street protest against the hijab rule, says that she has left Iran after being sentenced to two years in prison and an 18-year suspended prison term.