Maryam Karimbeigi Given 74 Lashes and Prison Term for Demanding Justice for Slain Brother

Human rights defender, Maryam Karimbeigi has been sentenced to 74 lashes, five years and seven months imprisonment and a fine by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.

Maryam has been demanding justice for her brother, Mostafa Karimbeigi who was killed in the 2009 nationwide protests, with her mother Shahnaz Akmali for years. Instead of accountability, they have faced reprisals in the form of harassment and arrests.

On August 1, Shahnaz tweeted: “My daughter has been sentenced to three years and seven months imprisonment on charges of assembly and collusion for seeing her favourite singer Ebi! She has also been sentenced to a year imprisonment for charges of propaganda and a year, 74 lashes and a fine for being in possession of three handmade beers.”

According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, Maryam will have to serve the longest sentence, three years and seven months. She was arrested at her home on June 14 and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence’s Ward 209 in Evin Prison where she went on hunger strike.

Maryam’s father, Mohammad Karimbeigi previously told Iran Human Rights: “I demand the unconditional release of my daughter. Maryam hasn’t committed any crimes and any activism has been within the human rights framework. On the first day, the investigator told her lawyer Mr Raeisian that she has too much contact with the families of political prisoners and the mothers demanding justice for the deaths of their children in the November 2019 protests, he said they want to teach her a lesson for socialising with them.”

You can read more about the reprisals faced by Maryma's mother, Shahnaz Akmali on page 27 of our 2021 Iran Human Rights Defenders Report.