Faezeh Hashemi Arrested To Begin Serving Six-Month Sentence

Faezeh Hashemi arrested in Tehran on Saturday.

According to Iranian state news agency (IRNA), quoting the news website of Tehran Revolutionary and General Courts, former Member of the Iranian Parliament and Editor-in-Chief of the banned newspaper Zan, Faezeh Hashemi was arrested on Saturday night in Tehran, in order to begin serving her six-month prison term.

On 3 January, Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court, which has tried hundreds of cases of post-election detainees under Judge Salavati, sentenced Faezeh Hashemi to six months in prison and a five-year ban from political, cultural, and press activities on charges of “propaganda against the regime.” The lower court proceedings were conducted behind closed doors and Faezeh Hashemi’s lawyer, Gholamali Riahi, represented her in court.
After a Tehran Appeals Court upheld Faezeh Hashemi’s sentence in full, a source close to Hashemi told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that, “She believes that carrying out this sentence will provide support to political prisoners and their families, and it will also be a good experience. That’s why she welcomes it” as an act of solidarity, the source added.

Faezeh Hashemi is the daughter of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Islamic Republic’s Expediency Council. Faezeh Hashemi has headed the Islamic Federation of Women’s Sports since 1990 and is a former Member of the Iranian Parliament. In June 2011, a group of unidentified people stormed and vandalized her offices at the Federation. No investigations were ever carried out to find the perpetrators.

At the time of Faezeh Hashemi’s trial in the lower court, ISNA News Agency reported that her interview with Rooz Online, an opposition news website published outside Iran, was the reason for her charge of “propaganda against the regime.” In that interview, Faezeh Hashemi spoke of the “organized” nature of plainclothes forces, stating, “presently, the country is managed by thugs and plainclothes forces who are bought with money, positions, and clout.”