Iranian Student Sentenced to a Year Imprisonment for Opposing the Death Penalty on Twitter

Iran Human Rights condemns the increasing repression in Iran and calls for the immediate revocation of Hasti Amiri’s sentence. Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Issuing prison sentences for lawful and civil activities, such as expressing an opinion on the death penalty, is the peak of stifling freedom of expression in the Islamic Republic. It also demonstrates the authorities’ fear of the growing opposition to the death penalty.”

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Allameh Tabataba'i University student, Hasti Amiri has been sentenced to a year in prison and banned from participating in  student gatherings for the charge of “propaganda against the system.”

In a Twitter post, she wrote: “Around two months ago when I was at work, I found out that security forces had entered my father’s house with an arrest warrant and after searching the house, they stated that I’d need to go to Branch 2 of Evin court in the coming days. A visit that ended with being charged, a new case and overnight detention in Evin Prison.”

“The offences leading to the charge have been cited as first, holding a photo at the entrance of Alameh University on 8 March and second, for the positions I took on Twitter in defence of the right to life and against the death penalty. In the meantime, the fact that I don’t have the right to attend any student gatherings other than classes, is the most ridiculous part,” she wrote.

There has been growing opposition to the death penalty in recent years, which is either directly expressed in campaigns on social media or as part of the abolitionist movement.

The crackdown on civil society calling for the abolition of the death penalty illustrates that Islamic Republic authorities see any peaceful action against the death penalty as a threat to their very existence.

On the 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty, Iran Human Rights and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty published the results of a survey conducted on “Iranians’ Opinion on the Death Penalty.” The GAMAAN Institute was commissioned to carry out the survey from 3-11 September 2020 and included 20,000 respondents living in Iran.

The results revealed that 70% of Iranian either oppose the death penalty completely (44%) or agree with it only in unique cases (26%).