Sepideh Rashnu

Sepideh Rashnu is a poet and editor who was arrested after the video of an altercation between Sepideh Rashnu and a female state supporter went viral; in the video, the woman admonishes Ms. Rashnu to fix her hijab. Rashnu immediately became one of the symbols of the fight against the mandatory hijab.

In recent years (after 2017) protests against mandatory hijab have increased. Many have been arrested and sentenced to prison for these protests. <symbol-timeline></symbol-timeline>

• <coverage-outsourcing id='40931'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/arrest-iran-hijab-woman/31948499.html'> Sepideh Rashnu was arrested. On July 19th the media and human rights activists reported that the woman in the viral video who had an altercation with a female state supporter has been identified and arrested. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='40930'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/arrest-iran-hijab-woman/31948499.html'> A video went viral on social media in which a hijabi woman threatens another woman to fix her hijab or she will send her photos [with improper hijab] to the IRGC. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41028'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2022/hranews/a-36310/'> Accompanied by many agents, she was transferred at night to Taleghani Hospital for examination because of the risk of internal bleeding due to heavy blows to the stomach. An HRANA source reported that Ms. Rashnu’s blood pressure had dropped, she was weak and had difficulty moving around. The source reported that the agents have not allowed her to talk to anyone and she was examined in their presence. According to the witness statements, she was returned to a lockup that same night. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='40932'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/forced-confessions-iran-camera-woman-mandatory-hijab/31966487.html'> Islamic Republic’s state TV showed a video of a face-to-face between a woman who admonished Sepideh Rashnu on the bus and another woman on the bus who had supported Ms. Rashnu. In the video, which seems to be recorded under coercion, the woman who had supported Ms. Rashnu on the bus apologizes to the state-supported and asks for forgiveness. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='40933'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/protest-in-cyberspace-about-not-knowing-about-the-condition-of-sepideh-rashno/31964889.html'> Iranians on social media started an online campaign in support of Sepideh Rashnu. In the “Where is Spideh” campaign ((#سپیده_کجاست Iranians expressed concern about her situation. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='40934'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/Arash_sadeghii/status/1553112879318138884'> There were reports indicating Ms. Rashnu is being held in IRGC’s 2-Alef detention center. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='40935'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/sepideh-reshnou-woman-protesting--mandatory-hijab-notice-in-iran/31967418.html'> The Islamic Republic’s state TV (IRIB) aired the forced confession of Sepideh Rashnu. In the video, the IRIB reporter claims Sepideh Rashnu has been taking orders from somewhere and the movement against mandatory hijab and related activities are all managed from abroad. Ms. Rashnu looks very distressed in the video and has a bruised black eye. It seems she was tortured for her video confession. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41188'> <reference source='https://www.radiofarda.com/a/request-of-hundreds-of-activists-for-the-release-of-sepideh-rashno/31980433.html'> Over 300 activists in Lorestan province sent an open letter to the Islamic Republic officials asking for the freedom of Sepideh Rashnu. According to Radio Farda, the activists objected to the broadcast of Ms. Rashnu’s coerced confessions and demanded the state TV (IRIB) officially apologize for broadcasting it; they also asked the chief of the judiciary to address “the criminal behavior of the enforcers of legal violence and torture and broadcasting the coerced confessions of a defendant from state TV.” </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41231'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/masoudkazemi81/status/1559080075764588545'> Journalist Masoud Kazemi reported on Twitter that Sepideh Rashnu’s case has been referred to a branch of the revolutionary court. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41259'> <reference source='https://bit.ly/3PsFMvJ'> A group of women in Tehran gathered and held signs in protest of the arrest of Sepideh Rashnu. IranWire has published the images of the gathering. Based on the contents of the signs, it seems the women participating in the gathering are a group of women’s rights activists. The signs also mention issues such as the right to abortion and free access to contraceptives. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41404'> <reference source='www.irna.ir/news/84860107'> State media reported that Sepideh Rashnu’s indictment has been sent to the revolutionary court. She has been charged with “promoting depravity, assembly and collusion against national security through connection with people abroad, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Judge Iman Afshari at the 26th branch of the revolutionary court will be presiding over her case, and he told the media that Ms. Rashnu has been arraigned. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41572'> <reference source='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekO-0wIqQ40yGVwgp38wA-ies4TKqwagoQtZZQFFegaq6ksg/viewform'> A group of women’s rights activists released a statement in support of Sepideh Rashnu and in protest of her arrest and torture, and also four decades of oppression for women. The signatories mention what Ms. Rashnu has gone through and said any woman could have gone through that under the Islamic Republic laws. In the end, they state: “We are not criminals. We are people who will not take a step back after seeing Sepideh Rashnu’s bruised black eye; instead, we will shout together that freedom is our right and our power is in unity.” The statement also mentions Homa Darabi, a university professor who was fired from university for “improper hijab” in 1990 and a few years later self-immolated in Tajrish square in Tehran in protest of mandatory hijab. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41577'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/samanrashnoo/status/1564167703878942720?s=20&t=pem39axOy6jc7waBqtRiWQ'> The trial session of Sepideh Rashnu was held at the 26th branch of the revolutionary court of Tehran. Her brother announced the news on Twitter, adding that the trial was held in public, and bail was set. He had previously reported that Sepideh Rashnu has met with her attorney Naeem Reza Nezami. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='41578'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/naeimnezami/status/1564541338888151040?s=20&t=llsZigdGn5dr4SLfF4Rx-w'> Her attorney reported her release on bail. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='45073'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/samanrashnoo/status/1607799191954395137'> Saman Reshnu, her brother, wrote on his Twitter, "After the dismissal of the charge of causing corruption and prostitution, my sister Sepideh Reshnu's sentence was confirmed with three other charges; Assembly and collusion against the security of the country, propaganda activity against the state, and not wearing hijab in the streets. Saman Rashnu also wrote that Sepideh Rashnu has been sentenced to five years of suspended imprisonment and during the period of probation, she is required to obtain permission from the judicial authority to leave the country, to appear periodically in the monitoring office with follow-up by the officers of this case along with registration, and preparing a research paper in one hundred and ten pages about patriotism, politeness, and harming public opinion. About preparing the research report, Mr. Rashnu mentioned that this research should be adapted from the books "53 Years of Pahlavi Rule According to the Narrative of the Court", "Nineteen Divine Steps to Peace", "Order, What Everyone Loves" and "Three Minutes in the Day of Resurrection" with reference on each page. Saman Rashnu also emphasized that one of the accusations against Sepideh Rashnu for the charge of propaganda against the state was writing several literary criticisms about Sadegh Hedayat. According to Atlas, this sentence was probably confirmed in the appeals court. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='51183'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/CsLOcS6oUi5/'> He announced on his Instagram page that she was sentenced to two and a half years of temporary ban from education by the disciplinary committee of the university for not observing the Islamic hijab. She wrote, "The disciplinary committee said to go on leave for two semesters. I said I will not go on compulsory leave. [So] They suspended me. I said that I will return after two semesters of suspension, but I will return with the same clothes. They said you will be banned from entering the university then. They expel people in the name of suspension, they don't let a person go to class." Based on this Instagram post, she has been banned from the university since April, and her verdict was verbally communicated to her. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='51831'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs8wB7OIPiZ/'> In a post on her Instagram page, she wrote that she was charged with "promoting corruption and prostitution, and propaganda against the state" in a branch of the Evin Prosecutor's Office. According to Ms. Rashnu's post, the example of this accusation was "just the first post on her Instagram page". </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='55781'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx4sX7KIgQc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=='> The court hearing of Sepideh Rashnu's charges was held at Ershad Judicial Complex in Tehran with the presence of Milad Panahipour, her defense lawyer. Ms. Rashnu published her picture without hijab in front of this judicial complex and said that she will appear in the court in the same way. According to Sepideh Rashnu, the accusations against her are propaganda against the system and encouraging people to commit corruption and prostitution. However, the court was held in her absence. Mizan, the news agency of the Islamic Republic's Judiciary announced that Sepideh Rashnu "did not appear in court and her lawyer presented his defense bill to the branch handling the case." Also, Fars, a news agency close to the IRGC, reported that she was prevented from entering the judicial complex. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='55782'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy-XpmvI7cy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link'> In a post on her Instagram account, Sepideh Rashnu announced that in the new case filed against her, she was sentenced to six months in prison, to pay a fine of 100 million rials, to be banned from Instagram for one year, and to "permanently delete her current Instagram page". According to this post, this sentence removes the punishment of "three years and seven months from the first case (July bus)". </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='55784'> <reference source='http://tinyurl.com/fpd5vhwt'> She was sentenced to four months of imprisonment by the first branch of the appeals court on the charge of "publishing obscene images in cyberspace". While announcing this news, Milad Panahipour announced in an interview with Shargh Network that his client Sepideh Rashnu will have to endure three years and 11 months of imprisonment for two cases. In this interview, Mr. Panahipour added that the first post that Ms. Rashnu published on her Instagram page led to the filing of a case with accusations of encouraging corruption and prostitution, the subject of Article 639, and propaganda against the state, the subject of Article 500 of the Civil Code, in the Evin courthouse. According to Milad Panahipour, Ms. Rashnu did the initial defense alone and without a lawyer at Shahid Moghaddas prosecutor's office, and in the end, the prosecution issued an order of non-suit for the charge of propaganda against the state, but issued an indictment on the charge of promoting corruption and prostitution. The case with the same title was referred to the 1099 branch of the Ershad Court. Shargh network further quoted Mr. Panahipour and wrote that the Court of Appeal accepted part of the defense in its document, but according to the branch's advisors, the title of charge was changed from "injuring public modesty" to "publication of vulgar images in cyberspace" subject to Article 742 of IPC, and parallel to this change in the title of charge, it reduced Ms. Reshnu's sentence from six months imprisonment to four months imprisonment and also removed the fine. In this interview, Milad Panahipour announced a new case against Sepideh Reshnu for appearing in front of the court in September with the attire of her choice. After the public announcement of this verdict in a note on Instagram which was accompanied by a picture of her presence in court with a bruised eye signing papers related to her arrest, Sepideh Reshnou referred to the verdict of "four years in prison for having hair" as "pure nonsense" and said it is like imprisoning someone for having arms or legs. After that, many social media users reacted to the issuing of a four-year sentence for Sepideh Reshnou for demanding the right to the attire of her choice. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='55793'> <reference source='https://www.instagram.com/p/C3W2_ArMcDe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link'> The sentences of her three cases were enforced. Sepideh Reshnu wrote on her Instagram account that she was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for the first case related to "protest on the bus", her sentence was four months in prison for the second case related to "announcing the news of her university suspension" and 15 million rials fine related to the third case, i.e. "presence with selective attire on the court date of the second case". She also added that as soon as the case reached the sentence enforcement office, she was banned from leaving the country. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='55794'> <reference source='https://x.com/samanrashnoo/status/1758760418292408559?s=20'> Saman Reshnu wrote in his user account on X that the enforcement of the sentence of his sister, Sepideh Reshnu, has been suspended until March 8. Mr. Reshnou wrote that with the follow-up of Milad Panahipour, his sister's attorney, the Supreme Court has accepted the retrial of the second case. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>