Azar Yahu, a 39-year-old Iranian woman first arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in March, was sentenced to three years in prison for commenting on a social media post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, multiple human rights groups reported.
Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad sentenced Yahu to three years in prison, with one year to be served and two years suspended.
She was reportedly charged with “cooperation with Israel” over the single comment, according to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
The Iranian legal advocacy network Dadbaan reported that she was also charged with “acting against national security” for using heart stickers on Instagram posts by US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu, as well as for allegedly expressing joy over the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Yahu was denied all outside contact in detention
During her detention before the trial, Yahu was denied access to outside contact, including with her family, after she allegedly attempted to publish a statement about the conditions of her detention, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency and Iran International.
Dadbaan reported that she remained in detention at the Central Prison of Mashhad despite posting bail, after security officials and prison authorities allegedly obstructed her release.
Sepideh Gholian, an Iranian human rights activist and former political prisoner who was released in June, claimed that Yahu was being held in isolation in a ward “where conditions are inhumane.”
“The cell is locked 24 hours a day, and there is no possibility of movement to other cells. Inhumane conditions mean that hygiene is not observed, there is no proper ventilation, and they are deprived of a kitchen and healthy and basic food. Inhumane conditions mean that you are considered a prisoner of some rank, and if you protest, they will send you to solitary confinement,” Gholian claimed, according to the Persian magazine Iran Emrooz.