Sakineh Parvaneh, a Kurdish political prisoner serving a sentence of seven years and six months in Mashhad Prison, was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison in Tehran on 3 April for unspecified reasons.
She had previously requested to be transferred to Quchan Prison in Razavi Khorasan Province because her family lives in the city.
Parvaneh was arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at the Mashhad Bus Terminal on 4 April 2023. After ten days of interrogation at the security service’s detention centre, she was transferred to Mashhad Central Prison.
Since her arrest, the political prisoner has been denied the right to furlough and access to medical services due to opposition from the IRGC intelligence service.
In the past year, Parvaneh was consistently denied the right to legal representation throughout her trial and appeals process. Attempts to contact her lawyer and seek legal advice have been hampered by the authorities’ blocking of her lawyer’s contact number.
In recent months, the officials have also imposed restrictions on Parvaneh’s telephone communications with her family, allowing her to make limited and brief phone calls only in the presence of prison guards and on condition that she speaks in Persian.
Parvaneh, who was released under amnesty from Mashhad Central Prison on 11 February 2023, was arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC at the Mashhad Bus Terminal on 4 April 2023 and taken to the military-security organisation’s detention centre.
After initial interrogations, the former political prisoner was transferred to Mashhad Central Prison on 14 April 2023.
The taxi driver who took Parvaneh to the terminal was also detained for several hours and severely beaten by IRGC intelligence agents.
In late August 2023, Parvaneh was sentenced to a total of seven years and six months imprisonment by Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Mashhad on charges of “propaganda against the state”, “assembly and collusion” and “insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
The sentence was upheld by Branch 35 of the Razavi Khorasan Province Court of Appeals several weeks later.
Despite the fact that one of the judiciary lawyers in Mashhad agreed to represent Parvaneh, the judges of Branch One of the Islamic Revolutionary Court and Branch 35 of the Court of Appeals have prevented the lawyer from accessing the case file.
The court and IRGC’s intelligence service are said to have cited a video circulating on social media and in the media showing Parvaneh at the grave of Ali Mozaffari, a protester killed during the anti-government uprising of Women Life Freedom in Quchan, Razavi Khorasan Province, as evidence supporting the charges.
Parvaneh has had a history of multiple arrests, convictions, and imprisonments in the past. She was first arrested in autumn 2019 while residing in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq during a security operation while meeting with her family in the city of Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region, by the security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
After she was arrested, Parvaneh was taken to the Iran-Iraq border, where she spent ten days in detention centres in Marivan and Sanandaj, and ultimately was transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran.
In a letter published on 25 July 2020, she spoke about a conspiracy by security agencies to arrest her in Sulaymaniyah, stating that during her detention in the wards of Section 2A, 209, and the women’s section of Evin Prison, she was subjected to the most severe physical and psychological torture.
Parvaneh’s lawyer Payam Derafshan said on 25 May 2020 that his client had been sentenced to five years in prison and three years ban from membership in political groups on charges of “membership in groups or factions opposing the state with the aim of disrupting national security”.
In April 2020, Parvaneh was transferred from Evin Prison to Qarchak Prison in Varamin for writing and chanting slogans. After spending four days in solitary confinement in this prison, she was transferred to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital in Rey.
The political prisoner was returned to Evin Prison on 4 July 2020 with bruises and beating marks on her body.
Later, a court sentenced Parvaneh to two years in prison in August 2020 on charges of “disrupting the prison order”.
In November 2020, the political prisoner was transferred from Evin Prison to Quchan and Mashhad prisons.
In addition, during her imprisonment, she was taken several times to the detention centre of the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC in Mashhad and was subjected to physical and mental torture to make confessions on TV.
The political prisoner also went on hunger strikes several times to protest against the pressure of security agencies.
Parvaneh, who was released under amnesty from Mashhad Central Prison on 11 February 2023, was re-arrested in Tehran on 7 March 2023, but was released after four days.
Since her release under amnesty, the Intelligence Organisation of the IRGC has been refusing to return her personal documents, including her identity card.