On March 16, 2024, Iranian police arrested Sedigheh Vasmaghi–a professor of Theology and Islamic Jurisprudence in Iran, author, and women’s rights advocate–on charges of “propaganda against the system in cyberspace” and “public appearances without [the] Shari’a-compliant hijab.”

Vasmaghi is a staunch advocate for women’s rights in Iran and has openly opposed the country’s mandatory hijab law. She has posted pictures and messages on social media condemning the government’s crackdown on offenses related to the hijab and its repression of women, and she has appeared in public without a head scarf. Vasmaghi has also been publicly critical of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, calling him a “dictator” and slamming the country’s “oppressive” leadership and “illegitimate” Islamic Revolutionary Court.

On March 16, Iranian police officers, dressed in plainclothes, entered Vasmaghi’s home and confiscated her phone and laptop. Vasmaghi was transported and held at Evin Prison, the primary prison for political prisoners in Tehran.

While in prison, Vasmaghi detailed being subjected to torture by prison guards in a letter to a United Nations fact-finding committee. She also reported that prison authorities had revoked her visitor access and denied her proper medical care because of her refusal to wear the hijab.

On April 29, the media reported that Vasmaghi was released on bail from Evin Prison because of her deteriorating health conditions, notably her newly developed blindness and heart problems as a result of lack of medical care while in prison.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the arbitrary imprisonment and ill-treatment of a scholar while in state custody in apparent retaliation for the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression—conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and undermine democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2024/04/11/letter-protesting-the-arrest-of-prof.-sedigheh-vasmaghi-in-iran
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-sit-in-protest-evin-prison/32876658.html
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-vasmaghi-court-illegitimate/32869783.html
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-vasmaghi-release-health-issues-prison/32927628.html