Sedigheh Vasmaghi

She was the representative in the first term of Tehran’s town council, university professor and one of the faces of religious intellectualism in Iran. She, who collaborates with several European universities, was sentenced to prison in absentia. Ms. Vaseghi was arrested upon her return to Iran

• <coverage-outsourcing id='19374'> After writing a piece about “the secret meeting of Larijani with Nick Brown in London” she was condemned to prison. Sedigheh Vasmaghi told Yalda website that after the complaint of Mohammad Javad Larijani, who was a member of parliament at the time, Mohammad Yazdi the head of the judiciary at the time, intervened in the case, and in the end, the judiciary acting “wrongfully and unlawfully” condemned her to incarceration </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19373'> According to the Television channel Rasa, security agents armed with a search and arrest warrant, issued by the prosecutor of Evin prison,searched her office and confiscated some of her belongings. According to the report, from 2009 onward her office served as the headquarters for investigation into the deaths and arrests of the post-election protests and for this reason she had been threatened, before, by the security apparatus </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19529'> According to her letter to Hassan Rouhani and the statements that his attorney gave to Iran Wire, on this date, she was tried and sentenced to five years incarceration, in absentia, at branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, headed by judge Moghiseh, with the Intelligence ministry as plaintiff, for the charges of “propagating against the state” (Article 500) & “membership in groups that threaten national security”(Article 499), on ‘evidence’ such as “membership in the Green movement” & “membership in Committee in Solidarity with the Victims of 2009 events” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19530'> In a letter to Hassan Rouhani, written from the exile, she wrote of the imprisonment and the calamities that the Intelligence ministry has brought upon her and declared her decision to return to Iran </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19372'> According to Hesam, she was arrested by Intelligence Ministry agents at the airport upon her return to Iran. A few hours later, Zeitoon reported that Ms. Vaseghi was released by posting bail and promising to appear in court </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19526'> Sedigheh Vasmaghi was arrested after attending Branch 28 of Tehran Revolutionary Court and transferred to the women's ward of Evin Prison. Her lawyer, Mahmoud Ali ‌Zadeh Tabatabai, told IranWire that Judge Moghiseh had behaved "extremely harshly" with her. He said: > From the beginning, he used to call Ms. Vasmaghi with the words "anti-revolutionary," "foreign-affiliated," etc. When we asked for the accusation, he only read the Ministry of Intelligence report." Ms. Vasmaghi denied the charges in court, saying that she was not a member of the "Green Way of Hope Movement [Jaras website] and the Injured Committee was a legal organization established by the moral Tehran City Council. According to Alizadeh, Judge Moghiseh told Vasmaghi: > Why did you comment on the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi? She responded: > I was an expert and professor of Islamic jurisprudence and law, and I was teaching at the highest university in the country, the University of Tehran." Judge Moghiseh told her that "you accused the regime of cruel behavior in the death of Haleh Sahabi. She responded: > I told the regime officials to stop the oppression to prevent incidents like Kahrizak. Judge Moghiseh finally rejected the appeal and issued a bail of 3 billion Tomans for Ms. Vasmaghi; the bail was reduced to 1 billion Tomans after the lawyer protest. Sedigheh Vasmaghi was transferred to Evin Prison due to her inability to post bail. According to this lawyer, the court was full of objections. The trial was held without the presence of the prosecutor's representative and the second judge. The bail was hefty and irregular. Also, bail is issued when there is a fear of the accused escaping. When the accuser returns from Europe by her wish, there is no fear of escape </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19598'> According to Kalameh, Jaras website’s political committee, wrote a press release denying the membership of Sedigheh Vasmaghi in their site, “Informs that Ms. Sedigheh Vasmaghi was never a member of any of the departments of the Jaras website (Green movement) including the political committee or the editorial board. Her articles and poems, like that of many other compatriots, were published on this website. The discussion of a topic by individuals on this internet publication does not necessitate membership in this site. Therefore the judiciaries evidence, at least in relation to Jaras, is utterly false” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19600'> Zeitoon reported that Sweden’s Pen society published a statement protesting the arrest of Sedigheh Vasmaghi and asking for her unconditional release </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19701'> The heads of PEN, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, expressing concern about the physical condition of Sedigheh Vasmaghi and asking for her release </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='19753'> According to Zeitoons, she was released on bail </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='23110'> Zeitoons reported that she was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison term by Tehran Appeals Court </coverage-outsourcing>