Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi was sentenced to seven years in prison for content she published on Facebook. She was charged with insulting the Supreme Leader, propaganda against the regime and posting vulgar images online.
Name: Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi
Career: Citizen journalist, Facebook user.
Charges: Propaganda against the regime, insulting the Supreme Leader and publication of vulgar pictures.
In 2013, the Revolutionary Guards’ Cyber Police arrested Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi and seven other people in connection with their Facebook activities. Of the eight arrested, only Shirazi was released on bail after spending several months in detention.
In May 2014, the “Facebook 8” were tried at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghisei. They received combined sentences of 123 years in prison. Shirazi was sentenced to seven years and 91 days in prison, which included two years for propaganda against the regime, three years for insulting ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei under Article 514 of the Islamic Penal Code and two years for publishing “vulgar” images online.
According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Judge Moghisei’s verdict “is harsher than what the law permits, is clearly intended to spread fear among internet users in Iran, and dissuade Iranians from stepping outside strict state controls on cyberspace.”
The site adds that “Using Article 134 of the new Islamic Penal Code, the judge has ruled for the maximum punishment for each of the charges combined, failing to observe that the same law now limits punishment to the highest sentence among the charges.”
Naghmeh Shahsavandi Shirazi has appealed the verdict and is waiting to hear from the appellate court.
For more information, visit Journalism is Not a Crime, documenting cases of jailed journalists in Iran.
This is part of IranWire’s series Crime: Journalism, a portfolio on the legal and political persecution of Iranian journalists and bloggers, published in both Persian and English.
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