Fatemeh Davand was sentenced to five years and five months of prison and 30 lashes.

The Bukan resident was arrested on November 16, 2019, and charged with “disturbing public order by participation in riots” and “removing her hijab” by the Bukan Criminal Court in February. The case regarding her removal of the hijab was eventually dropped with Judge Mehdi Taghizadeh sentencing her to lashes and imprisonment for the protest participation on its own.

She was also charged with “assembly and collusion against national security” in a separate case at the Mahabad Revolutionary Court in May.

A person close to her told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that: “The second trial was held on May 12 in the 1st Branch of the Mahabad Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Javad Gholami, with a court-assigned lawyer. On June 21, the verdict was announced as five years of prison for ‘assembly and collusion against the national security’.”

 

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The source said that Davand did not object to the sentence and reminded us that a fourth of the sentence should be removed under the Islamic Penal Code sentencing restrictions for multiple offenses.

Following her arrest, Davand was initially detained in a relative’s home in Saqqez before being moved to the Urmia Intelligence Detention Center for 13 days, where she was subjected to physical and psychological torture aimed at getting her to confess; a typical move by the regime.

Her forced confessions were broadcast on state-run TV a few days later and she was transferred to Urmia Central Prison before being released on bail on March 25 for 1 billion tomans (close to $43,000).

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in November to protest the tripling of gas prices overnight, which quickly turned into calls for the end of the regime, as most protests in Iran do.

The regime cracked down heavily in order to take back control, with 1,500 protesters killed on the streets, at least 8,000 injured, and between 12,000 and 20,000 arrested and subjected to torture before being given heavy prison terms, lashes, and even the death sentence.

The Iranian regime wants to prevent further protests and the only way they can see how is by violently targeting protesters now and scaring the people.