Soheila Hejab Bidsorkhi ( fa, سهیلا حجاب, Soheila Hijab; born 1990) is an Iranian lawyer and political and civil rights activist.

Background and education

Hejab is an ethnic

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

with origins in

Kermanshah Kermanshah ( fa, کرمانشاه, Kermânšâh ), also known as Kermashan (; romanized: Kirmaşan), is the capital of Kermanshah Province, located from Tehran in the western part of Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population is 946,68 ...

. She obtained a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

and qualified as a human rights lawyer. Hejab is known to have supported

monarchism Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

and the exiled Crown Prince

Reza Pahlavi Reza Pahlavi may refer to: * Reza Shah (1878–1944), Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran from 1925 until 1941 * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980), Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979, son of Reza Shah * Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pah ...

Arrests

Hejab has been repeatedly arrested for her political and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activism.

Before 2019

Hejab was first arrested in January 2018 in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

on charges of "assembly, collusion and propaganda against the system". Another arrest followed in December 2018, when she was sentenced to two years in prison, of which she served five months.

2019 arrest and allegations of mistreatment

Hejab was rearrested by the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

(IRGC) in June 2019 and eventually brought to Evin Prison. In an open letter from 13 January 2020, she denounced the suppression of protests in November 2019 and called for the overthrow of what she called the "tyrannical regime". In March 2020, days after her temporary release on heavy bail, Hejab was sentenced to 18 years in prison after having been convicted for charges including "propaganda against the system", "forming a women's rights group" and "calling for a referendum to change the Constitution". According to Iranian law, she has to serve 7.5 years of the sentence. After an appeals court session on 23 May 2020, she was arrested and beaten by IRGC officials and brought to

Qarchak Prison Qarchak Prison ( fa, زندان قرچک, Zendân-e-Qarchak) is a prison for women located in Qarchak, in Qarchak County, previously part of Varamin County, Tehran Province, Iran (30 km SSE of the capital). It is also called fa, زندا� ...

. From within prison, she continued to call for the toppling of

Supreme Leader of Iran The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the List of heads of state of Iran, head of state of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, executiv ...

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

. In November 2021 it was reported that Hejab had been moved to a prison in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. San ...

. In February 2022 it was reported that Hejab had contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, along with 13 other prisoners in the women's ward. A missive from March 2022 by the

Center for Human Rights in Iran The Center for Human Rights in Iran (formerly the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran; ICHRI) is an American non-government organization that aims to promote human rights in Iran. The group started in late 2007 when several human right ...

to Human Rights Commissioner

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

named Hejab as one of five Iranian activists who were currently sick but denied medical leave.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hejab, Soheila Iranian human rights activists Women's rights activists 1990 births 21st-century Iranian lawyers Living people