A British-Iranian woman held in Iran after trying to watch a men’s volleyball match is on hunger strike for the second time, according to her family.
Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25-year-old law graduate from London, is said to be protesting against what she called her illegal detention.
Although Ghavami’s lawyer Alizadeh Tabatabaie has said he saw court documents showing she had been sentenced to a year in prison, prosecutors have not confirmed Ms Ghavami’s sentence, leaving her case in limbo, her family said.
Iran banned women from volleyball games in 2012, extending a long-standing ban on football matches. The Iranian authorities have argued that women need protection from the lewd behaviour of male fans.
Responding to reports on Gahavami’s sentence Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: ‘This is an appalling verdict.
‘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.
‘Ghoncheh is a prisoner of conscience and the Iranian authorities should quash the sentence and release her immediately and unconditionally.
Allen said the authorities should also investigate allegations that Ghoncheh was subjected to death threats by her interrogators and provide compensation for her arbitrary detention and her prolonged solitary confinement. BBC & NCRI
