Roshanak Malai-Alishah remains detained amid uncertainty about her condition
Hengaw: Monday, November 18, 2024
According to reports received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Roshanak Malai-Alishah—previously referred to as Roshanak Moulai-Alishah in a prior report—has been transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin and remains in legal limbo 15 days after her arrest.
Roshanak Malai-Alishah, a 25-year-old Turkish woman originally from Tabriz and residing in Tehran, was arrested on Sunday, November 3, 2024, no clear charges or legal proceedings have been announced, and she continues to be held in Ward 8, formerly designated for political prisoners but now renamed the “Mothers or Health Ward.”
A day prior to her arrest by intelligence agents, Roshanak was summoned by the Cyber Police (FATA) on Saturday, November 2, 2024, in connection with a video she shared on social media on November 1. The video captured her confrontation with a government official over mandatory hijab policies. The video, recorded through CCTV cameras, showed her resisting physical and sexual harassment by the official. Shortly after its publication, her social media account was deactivated, and she was fined during an initial interrogation.
This is not Roshanak’s first encounter with state persecution. During the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, she was violently arrested in Tehran on September 27, 2022. After being held in Evin Prison, she was transferred to Qarchak Prison, where she remained until December 2022. Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced her to six years and six months in prison for “assembly and collusion,” but she was granted amnesty and released on February 15, 2023, after serving nearly five months.
Roshanak has faced persistent harassment and repeated interrogations due to her activism and social media posts. Her latest arrest stems from her decision to expose mistreatment and harassment by a government official. Despite being a victim of apparent physical and sexual abuse, she was detained for resisting and publicly sharing the incident.
Hengaw considers the arrest of Roshanak Molaei-Alishah and the pressure imposed on her as emblematic of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s broader gender apartheid policies. Hengaw urges the international community to closely monitor the escalating repression of women and sexual and gender minorities in Iran and to advocate for the formal recognition of gender apartheid within international legal frameworks.
