Iranian authorities sentence teacher to one Year in prison

Elham Astadi, a teacher, was sentenced to one year in prison by the Second Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan, Iran, according to the Women’s News Agency.

Elham Astadi, an English teacher from the Chabahar area in the city of Sistan and Baluchestan, who had previously been arrested during the "Jin Jiyan Azadî" uprising, was accused of "propaganda against the regime" by the Second Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan and sentenced to one year of imprisonment with hard labor.

On Tuesday, August 20, Iranian authorities notified Elham Astadi, and following the summons, she appeared at the Noor Zahedan Judicial Complex.

On Thursday, August 22, Elham Astadi announced via her Instagram account, without mentioning the one-year prison sentence, that she would be absent from social media for some time, writing, "I will leave Instagram; I may return, or I may not." In response to a friend's inquiry, she mentioned that her departure from social media was due to security concerns.

Elham Astadi, 30 years old, was previously arrested on August 22, 2023, due to an Instagram post in which she protested the "assault by Ibrahim Kuchzai, the commander of the security forces in the city of Chabahar, on a 15-year-old Baloch girl," and also protested the government's killing of Jina Amini in the city of Chabahar. She was taken to a detention center belonging to one of the security agencies.

Two days after her arrest, she was transferred to Zahedan Central Prison, where she remained in solitary confinement for 10 days. After 12 days, she was temporarily released on bail pending the completion of legal proceedings.

It is noteworthy that before this sentence, Elham Astadi, who teaches English in the private sector, had been fined in another case for "disturbing public opinion.”

A-H

ANHA