Iranian women’s rights activist Atefeh Rangriz has been taken to Semnan Prison, which is located about two hundred kilometres from Tehran.
Telegram messages from the Iranian Women’s Association say that during a brief phone call from prison, Rangriz broke the news to her family.
On May 1st, 2019, Rangriz was arrested while participating in a protest in front of the parliament in honour of International Workers’ Day.
Rangriz spent several weeks in solitary confinement after her arrest in Tehran’s Evin prison. During that time, she was prevented from communicating with her loved ones and subjected to rigorous interrogations without a lawyer present. She was forced to admit that she had planned demonstrations that could have endangered the country’s safety.
Rangriz was taken to Evin prison’s prosecutor’s office after being questioned by intelligence officials for weeks. Among the many charges she faced were “gathering and colluding against national security,” “spreading propaganda against the system,” “disrupting public order,” and “insulting officers on duty.”
Atefeh Rangriz and journalist Marzieh Amiri were among those convicted and sentenced to prison while others were eventually released.
In a summary trial, Rangriz was given a sentence of 11 years and 6 months in prison and 74 lashes. However, she and the other protesters and labour activists from the International Workers’ Day demonstration had their sentences pardoned the following year.
There has been a spate of re-arrests of protesters and opposition figures in the days leading up to the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s tragic death, and the reasons for Rangriz’s detention remain unclear.
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