Prisoner of conscience Maryam Shafi’ Pour has had her seven-year prison sentence reduced to four years on appeal.
Maryam Shafi’ Pour’s sentence was reduced to four years’ imprisonment on 28 May, by Branch 54 of the Appeals Court of Tehran. Activist Maryam Shafi’ Pour had been sentenced to seven years in prison on 2 March by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. It had found her guilty of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion against national security”, apparently in relation to her being in contact with the family of one of the jailed opposition leaders.
Maryam Shafi’ Pour’s first court hearing had been held on 21 October 2013, on national security-related charges, including “spreading propaganda against the system”. She had been an agriculture student at the International University of Qazvin before she was suspended and later expelled for her peaceful student activities.
Maryam Shafi’ Pour had been arrested on 27 July 2013 after she was summoned to the Shahid Moghaddas Office of the Prosecutor, in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Security officials searched her house and took some of her personal belongings. They then took her to Section 209 of Evin Prison, where she spent over two months in solitary confinement.
Maryam Shafi’ Pour has suffered health problems since she has been imprisoned. In December 2013 she passed out after experiencing an irregular heartbeat and was taken to the prison’s medical clinic. Amnesty International understand that Maryam Shafi’ Pour has been receiving medication in prison for her irregular heartbeat. After her two months of solitary confinement, she began suffering from skin rashes. She is understood to have been shackled and transferred to Shohaday-e Tajrish Hospital in Tehran to receive medical treatment on 3 May.
Her family were allowed to meet her face-to-face in prison on 11 May. Two months earlier in March the Prosecutor General’s Office of Tehran had banned Maryam Shafi’ Pour’s family from such face-to-face meetings, allowing only “cabin” visits (behind a glass screen). At the time, her family had been told this was because they had given media interviews about Maryam Shafi’ Pour’s case.
No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.
Amnesty International