The prison sentence of Jina Modares-Gorji, a civil rights activist from Sanandaj, has been reduced from 21 years in prison and exile to Hamadan prison, to 16 months of imprisonment.
According to Kolbarnews, the sentence of 21 years and exile to Hamadan prison for Jina Modares-Gorji, a journalist and civil rights activist, was reduced to 16 months by the Kurdistan Court of Appeals. The appeal court session was held on September 12, 2024, at Branch 4 of the Kurdistan Appeals Court. In this session, she was acquitted of the charge of “collaborating with hostile governments” but was sentenced to one year of imprisonment for “propaganda against the regime” and 16 months for “forming an illegal group with the aim of overthrowing the regime.” Out of these, 16 months are enforceable.
Previously, the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj had sentenced her to 10 years for “forming an illegal group with the aim of overthrowing the regime,” 10 years for “collaborating with hostile groups and governments,” and one year for “propaganda against the regime,” along with exile to Hamadan prison.
Jina Modares-Gorji, a journalist and women’s rights activist, was first violently arrested by intelligence agents on September 21, 2022, during the revolutionary uprising in Jina (Mahsa Amini) in Sanandaj. After 40 days in detention, she was temporarily released on bail on November 8, 2022. Her bail was later increased to one billion tomans due to new charges. She was arrested again on April 10, 2023, and after 84 days, she was temporarily released on July 3, 2023, with a heavy bail of five billion tomans from the women’s ward of the Sanandaj Correctional and Rehabilitation Center. During her first month in detention, she endured harsh conditions in solitary confinement, and between the two arrests, she was consistently pressured and monitored by security and judicial authorities.
In April 2024, under the “Noor Plan” and the pretext of “violating Islamic hijab laws,” her bookstore, “Zheera,” was temporarily sealed by Sanandaj’s public places authority.
Her first trial was held on February 12, 2023, at the First Branch of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Akbari. The second session took place on September 13, 2023, and the third on April 10, 2024, both presided over by Judge Saeedi and Judge Karami, respectively.
