Mozhgan Kavousi, Kurdish Writer and Researcher, Sentenced to One Year of Imprisonment
Hengaw: Sunday, August 18, 2024
The prison sentence of Mozhgan Kavousi, a Kurdish writer and researcher, and an activist for linguistic human rights to mother tongue from Kelardasht, was reduced to one year of imprisonment after her request for a retrial was accepted by Branch 39 of the Iranian Supreme Court, and her case was referred to Branch 2 of the Sari Islamic Revolutionary Court. Previously, she had been sentenced to 62 months of imprisonment in connection with her alleged involvement in the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement.
According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Sunday, August 11, 2024, the prison sentence of Mozhgan Kavousi, a Kurdish writer and researcher, and a follower of the Yarsan faith from Kelardasht, Mazandaran Province, was changed from 62 months to one year of imprisonment after the acceptance of her retrial request by Branch 39 of the Iranian Supreme Court and the referral of her case to Branch 2 of the Sari Islamic Revolutionary Court.
It is noteworthy that in Esfand 2023, her request for release under electronic monitoring was rejected by Branch 1 of the Sari Revolutionary Court, and since June 15, 2024, she has been serving her sentence outside the prison on an open prison sentence.
She was arrested on Monday, December 18, 2023, after being summoned to the Kelardasht Criminal Execution Office, and was transferred to Tonekabon Prison to serve her sentence.
Previously, Mozhgan Kavousi had been sentenced by Branch 1 of the Sari Revolutionary Court to 39 months in prison on charges of "assembly and collusion against national security," 15 months and one day for "insulting Khamenei," and 8 months for "propaganda activities against the government." With the application of sentence aggregation laws, the maximum enforceable sentence was determined to be 39 months, accounting for her prior detention period.
This Kurdish activist was released from Qaemshahr Prison on Wednesday, January 3, 2023, after spending 104 days in detention and being acquitted of the charge of "corruption on earth," upon posting a bail of three billion tomans, pending the completion of legal proceedings.
Mozhgan Kavousi was initially arrested on Thursday, September 22, 2022, at her home in Kelardasht, coinciding with the early days of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement. After being transferred to a security detention center, she was moved to Tonekabon Prison.
This researcher had previously been arrested by security forces in November 2019 due to her activities and was released from Kachooi Prison in Karaj after completing her sentence.
