Sepideh Rashno, an Iranian woman who refused to wear a headscarf and whose video of a quarrel with a hijab enforcer went viral last month, has been charged with propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
Iran's Judiciary Media Center quoted Revolutionary Court Judge Iman Afshari as saying on Saturday that Rashno was summoned from the prison and was served her indictment issued by the prosecutor's office. He added that she will be officially tried in the near future.
She is accused of “association and collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country's security through communication with foreigners and propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic and encouraging people to commit corruption and prostitution."
On Monday, August 15, some women's rights activists staged flash mobs in Tehran to demand information on her whereabouts. She has reportedly been in detention at the IRGC ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison since her arrest on July 16 after the video of her row with a woman enforcing hijab rules went viral on social media.
In a move that was condemned by many activists and people on social media, the state-run television (IRIB) aired on July 31 the so-called ‘confessions’ of the 28-year-old artist, writer and editor.
She was tortured and forced to denounce herself and other activists, and express regret for her confrontation with the hijab enforcer and posting her video on social media. She had been so brutally beaten before the telecast that she was suffering from internal bleeding.
