An Iranian-British woman, who was detained for watching a men's volleyball game in Iran, has been sentenced to one year in prison as the court found her guilty of spreading anti-state propaganda, her lawyer said Sunday.
Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, a law school graduate from London, has already spent 127 days in prison since being arrested on June 20 at Azadi Stadium in Tehran for trying to attend a men's volleyball match between Iran and Italy. Women are banned from attending male-only matches in Iran. According to rights group Amnesty International, Ghavami tried to enter the match with other women to protest the ban.
Though Ghavami was released soon after her arrest, she was rearrested some days later and stood trial last month. She also went on a hunger strike while in jail to protest against her detention.
The woman's brother, Iman Ghavami, said said the family was shattered by the court verdict.
"We are really disappointed because we felt she would get out on bail immediately. She's been through a lot and now it's a full-year sentence and she's already served four months," he said, reports The Guardian.
Ghavami's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, said that the court found her guilty of "propagating against the ruling system." Tabatabaei said that though he was shown the text of the verdict, he had not received it officially. He also said that the court informed him that Ghavami's case was referred back to the prosecutor as new charges were framed against her.
Amnesty International has strongly condemned the sentencing of Ghavami and called her a prisoner of conscience,
"It's an outrage that a young woman is being locked up simply for peacefully having her say about how women are discriminated against in Iran," Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said, reports the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the British foreign office also expressed concern about the sentence. The foreign office statement said that it was concerned about the grounds for the prosecution, whether proper procedures were followed during the trial and the kind of treatment given to Ghavani while she was under custody.
