Civil rights activist and writer Sepideh Gholian (Qolian) was sentenced to two years of prison for "Insulting" the Supreme Leader (Ali Khamenei). Sepideh's brother Mehdi posted on Instagram on May 5: "We received the news yesterday that Sepideh has been sentenced to another two years in prison, which effectively means starting over what we thought had just ended. Sepideh has been in and out of incarceration and exile since the fall of 2018" when she was 23 years old.

An Instagram post by free.nahid in German (for German-Iranian political prisoner Nahid Taghavi, administered by her daughter, Mariam Claren) sums up the background and the importance of defending Sepideh Gholian now. See below for translation to English.

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"The brave girl from Khuzestan, dressed in the style of the people of Balochistan, supporter of the workers of Haft Tapeh [sugar cane company], voice of the women in the Sepidar and Busher prisons. Louder than ever we shout: Freedom for Sepideh!

"Sepideh Gholian was sentenced to 2 more years in prison. On March 15, after 4 years and 7 months, she had been released from prison. Standing there in front of the prison, she shouted slogans and demanded the freedom of her friends who remained [in prison]. A few hours later —on her way to her home province of Khuzestan—  she was arrested again. The new trial was on charges of insulting the [Supreme] Leader.

"Sepideh is one of the most important voices  inside prison. She regularly reports on abuse and torture, especially in Sepidar and Busche women's prisons, where she [was detained] for some time.

"[Now], she is in Evin Prison and is detained alongside other fighters such as Niloufar Bayani, Narges Mohammadi, Nahid Taghavi, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Hamedi, Elahe Mohammadi, Golrokh Iraee and many others.

"Until the day when the gates of Evin open forever, we will fight for the freedom of political prisoners!

#FreeSepidehQolian #FreeNahid #freepoliticalprisoners #freeiran #jinjiyanazadi"

For more about Sepideh Gholian, including videos in Farsi, see our #FreeSepideh Resource Page.