Zeynab Hamrang
Age: 50
Activities/Rights: Retired teacher
Status: Evin Prison
Judicial status: 5 years imprisonment
Violations: Arbitrary arrest and detention, lack of due process, unfair trial, denial of medical care, no access to lawyer
Zeynab Hamrang is a retired teacher and Secretary of Education for Tehran’s District 18 and an activist. She was arrested at her home on 12 January 2020, when her personal belongings were confiscated and she was released on bail shortly thereafter. Zeynab was sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and a year for “propaganda against the system” by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. She was arrested while travelling to West Azerbaijan province in August 2020 and subsequently transferred to Evin Prison to serve her sentence. In July 2021, Zeynab contracted COVID-19 in Evin Prison along with several other political prisoners and was briefly sent on medical furlough. Zeynab started a food and medicine strike in protest at being deprived of medical leave, harassment and abuse by prison staff. She was released from prison on 17 October 2022 in the list of amnesties announced to mark prophet Mohammad’s birthday.
On 12 March 2023, Zeynab was re-arrested when she left her house to go to the gym and was taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. She was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Iman Afshari on 29 May 2023. She did not have access to a lawyer prior or during the trial.