Student Activist Motahare Goonei Arrested, Faces New Fabricated Charges by Iranian Authorities

Hengaw; Monday, October 7, 2024

Motahare Goonei, a student activist and one of those arrested during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, who had previously been sentenced to one year in prison, was arrested after being summoned to the Culture and Media Court in Tehran. This comes at a time when her expulsion from university was in the process of being revoked.

According to a report received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Monday, October 7, 2024, Motahare Goonei, a Dentistry student who had been summoned to Branch 9 of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office in Tehran, was arrested ahead of her previously imposed sentence under new fabricated charges, including “propaganda against the state and insulting officials and agents.” The official website of the Iranian judiciary, Mizan, also reported on Goonei’s arrest and her transfer to prison. However, the report did not specify to which prison she was transferred.

Earlier, Goonei had written on her X account that a new judicial case had been opened against her, with charges including “propaganda against the state” and “insulting officials and agents.” She also mentioned that she had been summoned to the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office, with the summons requesting her presence on October 21.

Goonei’s arrest occurred shortly after Massoud Habibi, the Deputy Minister for Culture and Student Affairs of the Ministry of Health, had announced the cancellation of her expulsion and the possibility of her return to university to continue her studies.

Mostafa Nili, one of the lawyers in the state court, wrote regarding the case: “Ms. Motahare Goonei was arrested to serve her one-year prison sentence for engaging in propaganda activities against the state. This sentence was imposed due to her participation in a sit-in protest against the death sentence of Toomaj Salehi at the House of Music, as well as some of her tweets.”

Motahare Goonei, former political secretary of the Islamic Students' Association of the University of Tehran, had also been arrested on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, after being summoned by the IRGC intelligence and transferred to Evin Prison.

Previously, Goonei, along with her former husband, Mehdi Hadizadeh, both students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, were sentenced by the Ministry of Health to temporary suspension from studies and a transfer to Ardabil University of Medical Sciences.

It should be noted that Motahare Goonei had previously been detained by security forces in Tehran during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.