The Islamic Republic Supreme Court has rejected the request for a retrial of an Iranian civil rights activist Saba Kord Afshari.
An Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced the 22-year-old Kord Afshari to 24 years in jail for protesting the compulsory hijab.
Following Kord Afshari's request for a trial, Branch 28 of the Islamic Republic Supreme Court rejected the plea. Thus, her prison sentence was upheld, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.
The civil rights activist was sentenced to 24 years in prison on three charges. According to the Islamic Penal Code, the highest sentence issued in her case is fifteen years in jail on charges of "corruption and prostitution," which is mandatory.
On June 2, 2019, the Islamic Republic intelligence agents stormed Saba Kord Afshari's residence in Tehran and confiscated her personal effects, including her laptop and cellphone.
Branch 1 of the General and Revolutionary Court of Tehran's 21st District Court charged Saba Kord Afshari, an activist in the "White Wednesdays" (anti-compulsory hijab movement) campaign, only one day after her arrest.
According to HRANA, on September 26, 2019, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced her, including to fifteen years of imprisonment on the charge of "promoting corruption and prostitution through appearing without a headscarf in public."
International organizations and human rights defenders have strongly criticized the Islamic Republic for its crackdown on activists who dare to protest the compulsory hijab and the so-called Islamic dress code.
In its latest annual report on the human rights situation in various parts of the world, which was published last March, the US State Department also referred to Saba Kurd Afshari and some other activists.
The Islamic Republic "kidnaps" civil activists and keep their families in the dark, and pressure the detainees to forced confessions in front of the monopolized state-run television cameras.
Saba Kord Afshari's mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, who has supported her daughter's activities in defending civil rights, has also been sentenced to 31 months in jail.
On February 20, 2020, the security forces transferred Mrs. Ahmadi to Tehran's notorious prison, Evin, to begin serving her sentence.
