An Iranian student and political activist, Maryam Shafipour, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the "judge of death" for crimes against the government.
Abolghasem Salavati, a judge at the Islamic revolutionary court in Iran's capital Tehran sentenced Maryam Shafipourgave on Tuesday, after the 29-year-old was found guilty of “spreading propaganda’ as well as “colluding” against the current regime.
She has since been transferred to the women's wing of Evin prison in northwestern Tehran.
In 2009, the year of the presidential elections in Iran, Shafipour campaigned for the opposition leader and candidate Mehdi Karroubi.
A woman protestor makes a V sign while standing in front of burning rubbish on July 9, 2009 in Tehran, Iran following 'rigged' presidental elections
She was arrested the following year, and released until July of last year, when she was put into solitary confinement on the basis that she posed a ‘threat to national security’.
Since then she has been attending the revolutionary court for questioning.
Judge Salvati, who sentenced Shafipour, is known by many Iranians as the Hanging Judge, or the judge of death. He earned this title by sentencing more than a dozen protesters to death since the controversial 2009 election period when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed to have obtained over 60% of the vote, and won another term as President.
Hundreds of peaceful political activists have received heavy sentences for their participation in the protests following the ‘rigged’ election, and Shafipour will join the many other students who are imprisoned in Tehran's Prison cells.
Since the start of Shafipour’s trial she has been barred from continuing her education and expelled by Qazvin university for her engagement in political activities.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International said: “That a student could be jailed for seven years merely for peacefully expressing her views or supporting an opposition politician defies belief. Maryam Shafipour should be immediately and unconditionally released and allowed to continue her studies. She should not spend the next seven years languishing in Evin Prison,”
"Maryam Shafipour's conviction is a chilling reminder of how little Iran's human rights record has changed since 2009, when students were arrested in droves during post election unrest.