Detained Hijab Protester Released On Large Bail

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 released on bail. 

Reshnou was released from Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday after about 40 days of detention with a bail of about $27,000, a huge sum for ordinary people in Iran. She has been charged with propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

Earlier in the month, Revolutionary Court Judge Iman Afshari said that Rashno was summoned from the prison and was served her indictment issued by the prosecutor's office. 

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 August 15, some women's rights activists staged flash mobs in Tehran to demand information on her whereabouts. She was reportedly in detention at the IRGC ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison since her arrest on July 16 after she argued with a woman enforcing hijab rules.

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 apparently 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.