Hamideh Zeraie

According to reports from Human Rights in Iran, on 21 February 2024, Hamideh Zarei, a political prisoner held in Kachouei Prison in Karaj, was released after serving eight months of her sentence and transferred to Rasht to serve a two-year exile.

This individual had been sentenced in November 2023 to one year of imprisonment and two years of exile in Rasht on charges of propaganda activities against the regime. Additionally, she was sentenced to a two-year ban on social media activities and a two-year travel ban. After accepting the verdict, one-quarter of her one-year prison sentence was reduced.

Hamideh Zarei received a summons on 3 May 2023 to appear at the Revolutionary Court in Karaj. After failing to attend the interrogation session, she was arrested on 29 May 2023 when security forces raided her home and transferred her to a detention centre in Karaj. Following interrogations, she was sent to the Public and Revolutionary Court in Karaj on 31 May 2023 and charged with propaganda activities against the regime.

She was initially arrested during nationwide protests in 2022 at the fortieth-day ceremony of Hadis Najafi. After undergoing interrogation and being formally charged, she was released from Kachouei Prison in Karaj on 7 February 2023 under an amnesty and sentence reduction directive.

On 4 February 2025, while serving her exile in Rasht, Hamideh Zarei was arrested by the Public and Revolutionary Court in Rasht for not observing Islamic dress code and transferred to the Lakan Prison Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre in Rasht. A bail of 1 billion tomans has been set for her temporary release.