Kurdish civil rights activist Khadijeh Mehdipour was detained by the Morality Police at Tehran’s Nabard metro station on 16 April for wearing non-conforming clothing.
Mehdipour, a former political prisoner originally from Eyvan-e Gharb in Ilam Province who lives in Tehran, was released after a few hours in custody.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that Morality Police officers beat Mehdipour during her arrest and transferred her to a Public Security Police detention centre.
After being detained for several hours and refusing to give any undertakings, she was released under threat of legal action.
Mehdipour was previously arrested by the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Ilam, Ilam Province, on 10 October 2021.
After two days of interrogation by this military-security organisation, she was transferred to the city’s central prison.
A few weeks later, Branch Two of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Ilam, headed by Judge Parvaneh, sentenced Mehdipour to 20 months in prison on charges of “propaganda against the state”, “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and “insulting the [supreme] leadership”, under Article 134 (Law on Consolidation of Sentences).
In February 2023, she was released from Ilam Central Prison under a judicial amnesty.
In June 2023, in a separate case, the activist was sentenced to three months and one day in prison by Branch 103 of the Criminal Court Two in Ilam for “publishing lies in cyberspace with the intention of disturbing public opinion”.
Mehdipour was then taken to Ilam Prison in August 2023 to serve her sentence and was released after 64 days.
