June 28, 2019
Eight months after she was arrested a second time for protesting Iran’s compulsory headscarf law, Vida Movahedi has been freed from prison, her lawyer announced.
“According to judicial authorities, the reduction of her punishment has been approved and she has been granted furlough,” attorney Payam Derafshan told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). “The remainder of her [one-year] sentence has been forgiven.”
Movahedi was the first person to protest the law by standing on a utility box, taking off her scarf and waving it over a crowd of pedestrians December 27, 2017. She was freed the next day after paying a fine, the normal punishment for dress code violations. But she repeated her act last October, bringing down the wrath of the authorities.
IRNA said: “According to Derafshan, his client had no intention of plotting anything and has said that she simply wanted to express a personal celebration, and in order to avoid any links with those who went abroad and tried to take political advantage of her personal action, she has always refused to express her views through foreign media outlets…. Therefore, the judge, taking into consideration that she’s the mother of a small child, decided to expedite her freedom.” She was released May 26.
At least 32 women have been arrested for such protests in Iran since 2018 and four women, including Movahedi, have been prosecuted, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.
Movahedi repeated her protest action October 23, 2018. That time she was arrested and taken to Qarchak Prison for women in southern Tehran and sentenced to one year in prison for “encouraging people to corruption and prostitution.”