Cartoon by Assad Binakhahi

Newly released activist protests against death sentence for women activists in Iran

Hawar: An activist who was recently released from Tehran's Evin prison called for an end to the death sentences issued against the two activists, Warisha Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi, by holding up a banner in front of the prison door with the words "No to execution."

Iranian authorities released activist Maryam Sadat Yahyawi after spending one year in Tehran's Evin Women's Prison on Sunday.

Following her release, the activist held up a banner in front of the prison door reading "No to execution", along with the name of women's rights activist Pakhshan Azizi, member of the Free Women Association in Eastern Kurdistan and Warisha Moradi, to demand an end to their death sentences

Yahyawi has been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned, and faced legal challenges for her activities, as well as arbitrary charges including "assembly, collusion and propaganda against the state."

The Iranian authorities arrested Yahyawi from her home in November 2014, transferred her to Evin prison, and released her on bail after 17 days of detention.

In July 2015, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced her to 9 years in prison and later reduced it to one year, and on March 4, 2024 she was arrested and transferred to Evin prison to serve her sentence.