IRAN HIJAB PROTESTS: 10 Years In Jail For ‘Prostitution’ Of Taking Off Headscarf

Officials in Iran have sentenced a 25-year-old woman to 10 years in jail simply for removing her headscarf during a street protest.

Mahsa Peyravi, 25, poses in undated photo. She was arrested as part of the nationwide protests, and sentenced to 15 years in prison in Tehran, Iran, in December, 2022. (Newsflash)

Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court gave accused Mahsa Peyravi from Tehran a decade behind bars on Saturday, 25th December.

The court had found her guilty of ‘encouraging corruption and prostitution’ and ‘assembly and collusion’, independent media reported.

The head of Branch 15 is feared judge Abolqasem Salavati, who has been dubbed “Iran’s Hanging Judge” by human rights and political activists.

Notoriously, he once presided over the execution of a man, Mohsen Amiraslani, who had described Jonah and the Whale as a fictitious morality tale.

Security forces seized Mahsa on 17th October after she removed her headscarf and waved it above her head on Mirdamad Boulevard in Iran’s capital.

She was released on bail three days later after she posted a bail bond of IRR 2.5 billion (GBP 50,000).

The verdict is preliminary and may be appealed.

Protests broke out in Iran on 16th September following the fatal beating of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by morality police for wearing her hijab “improperly”.

At least 469 protesters have been killed, while 39 are at risk of execution or death sentences, according to independent estimates.

As many as 18,210 protesters are believed to have been arrested.