Leila Hosseinzadeh, a former political prisoner and student activist who was recently expelled from university, has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment and a monetary fine.
According to Kolbarnews, the verdict issued by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, convicted Hosseinzadeh of “propaganda against the system,” resulting in a one-year prison sentence, and imposed a fine of 3.3 million tomans for “appearing unveiled in public spaces.” Hosseinzadeh, despite having the option to attend the trial in person, refused to appear.
Leila Hosseinzadeh, a graduate student in Anthropology at the University of Tehran, had recently announced her unexpected expulsion from both her master’s program and her undergraduate degree, despite completing her coursework years earlier.
A History of Legal and Academic Persecution
Hosseinzadeh has faced numerous legal battles in recent years:
In early December, she revealed a verdict issued in absentia by the Revolutionary Court for “appearing unveiled in public spaces and propaganda against the system.”
In September 2023, her 2018 five-year prison sentence for “collusion against national security” was converted to a 100-million-toman fine after a medical commission deemed her incapable of serving her sentence.
In January 2018, during protests, Hosseinzadeh was arrested and held for 16 days before being released on bail. Later, in 2019, she was sentenced to 30 months in prison for “collusion against national security” and an additional year for “propaganda against the system.”
She served time in prison from August 2019 until her release under a judiciary directive, citing her inability to endure further incarceration.
In 2021, she was sentenced to five years in prison and banned from online activities for two years, with the charges linked to her presence at a birthday gathering for imprisoned activist Mohammad Sharifi-Moghaddam.
Hosseinzadeh’s continuous persecution and sentencing have drawn widespread attention and criticism from activists, who view her legal troubles as part of a larger crackdown on student and civil rights activists in Iran.
