Yasaman Aryani

Age: 27

Activities/Rights: Women’s rights

Status: Kachouii Prison

Judicial status: 9 years and 7 months imprisonment

Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention, access to lawyer, lack of due process, unfair trial, prolonged solitary confinement, denial of medical care

Yasaman Aryani is a women’s rights activist and an actress. On International Women’s Day 2019, unveiled, Yasaman and her mother, Monireh Arabshahi, Mojgan Keshavarz and Raheleh Ahmadi handed out flowers and pastries to fellow passengers in a women’s only carriage on the Tehran metro, which was filmed and shared widely. On April 10, she was arrested after security forces raided her house, confiscating her laptop and phone. On 26 June 2019, Yasaman was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security, propaganda against the system and inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution” by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Moghiseh. The sentence was reduced to nine years and seven months by Branch 54 of Tehran Court of Appeals on 5 February 2020. On 21 October 2020, her lawyer, Babak Paknia tweeted that he had been informed that his clients, Yasaman and Monireh were told they had a meeting with their lawyer, which was a lie and upon leaving their ward, they were transferred to Kachouii Prison in Karaj. On 23 February 2022, Yasaman was beaten up by ordinary crime prisoners after she met with the warden about her ban from using the library and other prison facilities. She was moved to another ward without any further action being taken after her father filed a complaint. She was released from prison on 15 February 2023 as part of the prison pardons announced to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution. Upon her release, she recorded a video with her mother chanting “Woman, Life, Freedom.”