Amnesty International Canada

Yasaman Aryani

JAILED FOR PROTESTING

FORCED VEILING

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Urge the Iranian government to release Yasaman immediately!

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In Iran, it’s a crime for women to appear in public with their hair uncovered. Yasaman Aryani, a 24-year-old activist, wanted to change this. She’s been sentenced to 16 years in prison for campaigning against forced veiling.

It was International Women’s Day 2019 when Yasaman and her mother took off their headscarves and walked through a women-only train carriage in Tehran, handing out flowers. Yasaman spoke of her hopes for a future when all women would have the freedom to choose what to wear, “me without the hijab and you with the hijab”.  After a video of this went viral, Yasaman was arrested and charged with “inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution" through promoting “unveiling”.

After the authorities held Yasaman in solitary confinement and threatened to arrest her family if she didn’t “repent”, they sentenced her to 16 years in prison. She is required to serve 10 years of this sentence.  

Yasaman’s cruel punishment is part of a wider crackdown on women campaigning against discriminatory forced veiling laws in Iran. The Iranian authorities must not be allowed to rob Yasaman of the best years of her life – simply because she believes women should have the right to choose what they wear.   

Help us fight for Yasaman’s release.

Sign the petition, call on the Iranian authorities to:

  • Unconditionally release Yasaman Aryani from prison

  • Unconditionally release from prison all other women’s rights defenders detained for peacefully protesting against forced veiling

Urge Iran to release Yasaman!

Read the petition letter below

To: Head of the Judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi
C/o Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN
 

Dear Mr. Raisi,

Yasaman Aryani and her mother, Monireh Arabshahi, were sentenced to a shocking 16 years in prison for campaigning against discriminatory forced veiling laws.  They were arrested in April 2019 in relation to a video that showed them without headscarves on a women-only train handing out flowers on International Women’s Day. This brave act, where Yasaman spoke of her hope for a future when all women in Iran would have the freedom to choose what to wear, was shared in a video that went viral on social media. 

I urge you to release Yasaman Aryani and her mother Monireh Arabshahi, immediately and unconditionally as they are prisoners of conscience, jailed solely for their human rights work. Until they are released, please ensure they have regular contact with a lawyer of their choosing. I also urge you to stop criminalizing the work of women’s rights defenders and abolish forced veiling laws.

Yours sincerely

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