Sakineh Parvaneh, a former political prisoner, was first arrested in the autumn of 2019 while residing in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

During a security operation, she was detained by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Iranian consulate in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, during a visit with her family.

She was then transferred to Iran, spending 10 days in detention centres in Marivan and Sanandaj in Kurdistan Province, before being moved to Evin Prison in Tehran.

In a letter published on 25 June 2020, she detailed the security agencies’ conspiracy to arrest her in Sulaymaniyah and recounted being subjected to severe physical and psychological torture during interrogations in wards 2A, 209, and the women’s ward of Evin Prison.

On 25 May 2020, her lawyer, Payam Derafshan, said that his client had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a three-year ban on membership of political groups on charges of “membership of groups and factions opposed to the state with the aim of disrupting national security”.

In April 2020, Parvaneh was transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin for writing slogans and chanting in Evin Prison. After four days in solitary confinement, she was moved to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital in Rey.

On 4 July 2020, she was returned to Evin Prison with visible bruises and signs of beating. In August 2020, the court sentenced her to an additional two years in prison on charges of “rioting in prison.”

On 15 February 2023, following the issuance of a directive on “general amnesty and sentence reduction,” a number of political prisoners, including Parvaneh, were released from Mashhad Central Prison without prior notice.

On 4 April 2023, she was arrested by agents of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the Mashhad bus terminal in Razavi Khorasan Province and transferred to their detention facility. On 14 April, she was moved to Mashhad Central Prison.

During her arrest, the taxi driver who had taken her to the terminal was also detained for several hours and severely beaten.

In late August 2023, she was tried without the right to legal representation at Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mashhad, presided over by Judge Mansouri, on charges of “propaganda against the state”, “assembly and collusion to commit a crime against the security of the country”, and “insulting the leader”.

In October of that year, she was sentenced to a total of seven years and six months of imprisonment, which was upheld by Branch 35 of the Razavi Khorasan Province Appeals Court a few weeks later.

Despite one of the defence lawyers in Mashhad offering to represent her, the judges of Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court and Branch 35 of the Appeals Court denied the lawyer access to her case files.

The IRGC Intelligence Organisation cited a video of Parvaneh visiting the grave of Ali Mozaffari, a protester killed during the Women, Life, Freedom anti-government uprising in Quchan, shared on social media and foreign media, as evidence for the charges presented in court.

On 3 April 2024, Parvaneh was transferred from Mashhad Prison to Evin Prison in Tehran.

1. Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code: “Anyone who engages in propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in favour of groups and organisations opposing the state, in any manner, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months to one year.”

2. Article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code: “If two or more individuals gather and conspire to commit crimes against the internal or external security of the country or to facilitate the means for committing such crimes, they shall be sentenced to two to five years’ imprisonment, unless they are considered mohareb (those who commit enmity against God).”

3. Article 514 of the Islamic Penal Code (Deterrent Punishments and Penalties): “Anyone who insults the Founder of the Islamic Republic or the Leader in any manner shall be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from six months to two years.”

4. Women, Life, Freedom Uprising: Jina Amini (Mahsa Amini), a 21-year-old Kurdish woman from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, was arrested on a street in Tehran on 13 September 2022 by the morality police because of the way she was dressed. Shortly after her arrest, she was transferred to Kasra Hospital in Tehran with head injuries and symptoms of brain death, and passed away three days later on 16 September 2022. The government’s killing of Jina sparked unprecedented anti-government protests, which began with a large turnout at her funeral at Aichi Cemetery in Saqqez and quickly spread to many cities across Iran. These widespread protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which lasted for several months, resulted in at least 527 protesters being killed and thousands injured and arrested. The protests are known for their central slogan of “Women, Life, Freedom” (Kurdish: Jin, Jiyan, Azadi).