Iran: Faezeh Hashemi To Be Put On Trial On Sunday
Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of Expediency Council head Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, will be put on trial on Sunday August 14.
The Fars News Agency reports that Hashemi’s trial will be presided over by Judge Salavati in branch 5 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
While her charges have not been formally announced, in May, Iran’s Prosecutor General Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said new charges were pending against Faezeh Hashemi for “insulting Islamic Republic officials.” The charges were related to her interview on the Roozonline website.
Hashemi criticized the actions of the Iranian government in that interview and said the country was being run by “hoodlums and thugs.”
Mohseni Ejei reacted by saying portions of Faezeh Hashemi’s statement could make her subject to prosecution.
Faezeh Hashemi was arrested several times in the post-election protests but was released soon after. The last occasion saw her briefly detained at the opposition rally in Tehran last December. IRNA reported that she was arrested while chanting “provocative slogans.”
Faezeh Hashemi had been studying in Britain but returned to Iran a few months before the 2009 presidential elections. She is also the director of the now-banned “Zan” (Woman) magazine.
The Hashemi family became a target of repeated attacks in the post-election crackdown on protesters and challengers of Ahmadinejad’s victory, with Faezeh Hashemi especially targeted for her outspoken criticism of the government.
