Prominent Iranian political prisoner Fatemeh Sepehri, who in the past has criticized the Islamic Republic, has been sentenced to an additional 18 and a half years in prison after condemning the Hamas October 7 attacks and supporting Israel, a Thursday report from Iran International said.
According to the report, Sepehri has been suffering from a heart ailment and ill health during her time in prison as an Iranian dissident.
Regardless of her condition and imprisonment, Sepehri decided to issue a statement supporting Israel following October 7, which the Islamic regime in Iran viewed as a clear act of defiance.
“I condemn Hamas’s attack on Israel and say loudly that the Iranian nation stands by the Israeli nation. The Islamic Republic and its agents spend Iran’s wealth to buy bullets and attack Israel. We, the people of Iran, neither want war nor the killing of defenseless people. I again condemn Hamas’s attack. Since the rise to power of Ali Khamenei and the founding of the Islamic Republic, the Middle East has not seen peace,” the Iran International report translated her statement to say.
Sepheri's brother, Asghar Sepehri, posted a breakdown of the charges filed against his sister on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The report said that Sepephri's total of 18.5 years in prison could be broken down to multiple charges that include seven years of imprisonment for supporting Israel, another seven years for gathering and collusion to conspire against national security, three years for insulting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and a one year and six months sentence for propaganda against the Islamic republic.
Sepehri has been arrested in 2022 during Iran's nationwide Woman Life Freedom protest, the report stated
Considered to be an inspiration
Last December, a collective of 55 female leaders from across the Middle East, including representatives from the Muslim, Christian, Druze, and Jewish communities of 12 countries, issued a public denunciation of Hamas and its supporter, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Elaaheh Jamali, a signer of the public denunciation, told The Jerusalem Post that she viewed "all the women in prison in Iran who fight for the country," including Sepehri, as an inspiration.
Ohad Merlin contributed to this report.