Iranian activist and former political prisoner, Hamideh Zarei, has been sentenced to 178 lashes and 18 months in prison after being arrested for not wearing a hijab. Her latest legal ordeal highlights the Iranian government’s continued repression of women’s rights activists and its harsh enforcement of mandatory hijab laws.
Zarei, a Gilak activist and a master’s student at Tehran University, was recently released from Rasht Central Prison after spending nearly a month behind bars. However, she now faces a brutal new sentence that includes multiple charges. She has been sentenced to nine months in prison and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order,” an additional nine months for “resisting law enforcement officers,” 74 more lashes for “insulting an officer on duty,” and another 30 lashes for “causing non-visible injuries.”
Her most recent troubles began on February 3, when she appeared at the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Rasht as part of a forced residency sentence. While there, she was detained for not wearing the mandatory hijab, leading to fresh charges against her. Zarei was subsequently held in Rasht Central Prison for 29 days before being released on bail on March 3, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
During her detention, she was reportedly subjected to physical abuse by two officers from the Rasht Prosecutor’s Office Protection Unit, which resulted in severe bruising and wrist injuries. However, this is not the first time Zarei has been targeted by Iranian authorities.
In June 2023, she was arrested after being summoned to Rasht Court and was sent to Lakan Prison. She was released on June 10 after securing a judicial bond. However, her conflicts with the Iranian regime date back even further, with a series of arrests and legal battles over the past several years.
In November 2023, the Karaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mousa Asafolhosseini, sentenced Zarei to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran.” After accepting the verdict, her sentence was reduced to nine months. She had initially been detained in Karaj on May 29, 2023, and was held in Kachouii Prison until her release on February 22, 2024, after serving her sentence. In addition to her prison time, she was banned from traveling for two years, prohibited from engaging in social media activities for two years, and forcibly exiled to Rasht.
Zarei’s first known arrest occurred on November 3, 2022, when she was detained for attending a memorial service marking 40 days since the killing of Hadis Najafi. Najafi, a young woman, was shot dead by security forces during the widespread protests of 2022. Following this arrest, Zarei was held in Kachouii Prison before being released on February 7, 2024, under a so-called “pardon” directive.
Her case serves as a stark example of Iran’s ongoing crackdown on women’s rights activists and dissidents. Despite international condemnation, the Iranian regime continues to impose severe punishments, including floggings and imprisonment, on those who challenge its strict laws. With this latest harsh sentence of 178 lashes and 18 months in prison, the authorities have once again demonstrated their relentless pursuit of suppressing dissent and silencing those who defy their oppressive policies.
