Soheila Hejab

Soheila Hejab

Biography

Soheila Hejab is an Iranian Kurdish attorney and human rights activist in Shiraz. Hejab has defended the rights of criminal defendants and political prisoners. She has also called for an end to the Iranian regime. Hejab has defended the rights of criminal defendants and political prisoners.

Arrests and Trials

The authorities first arrested Hejab in December 2018, charging her with “supporting an anti-state organization.” She was convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and served five months.

Ten days after Hejab was released, IRGC intelligence agents rearrested her and raided her home. She was held in Tehran’s notoriously brutal Evin Prison. Hejab was freed on bail in March 2020, but sentenced three days later by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran to 18 years in prison on multiple charges, including “gathering and planning against national security” and “joining opposition groups to defend women’s rights.” Hejab’s sentence was upheld on appeal in May 2020, and she was transferred to Qarchak Prison to serve her sentence.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network claimed in November 2020 that Hejab had been charged with “propaganda against the system” and “disturbing public opinion” for releasing a letter on the anniversary of the November 2019 protests.

Treatment in Captivity

Hejab has claimed that she was physically abused at Evin and beaten badly following her appeal. She has also stated that an interrogator repeatedly threatened her with being killed. She went on two hunger strikes in protest of her imprisonment and the regime’s harassment of her relatives. At Qarchak Prison, Hejab was allegedly assaulted by prison officials and two prisoners.

Female inmates at Qarchak have reportedly suffered due to lack of water and medical facilities, as well as overcrowding.

In 2021, Hejab was reportedly transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison.

Activism from Prison

Hejab issued a letter from Evin Prison in 2019 condemning the regime’s repression of recent protests and saying that she had carried out a hunger strike until her captors claimed, falsely, that they would free her.

In February 2020, Hejab, joined by 11 other female political prisoners, released an open letter calling on Iranians not to participate in the upcoming elections for parliament.

In June 2020, Hejab released an audio message calling on the regime to free her brother from his imprisonment and move Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner diagnosed with COVID-19, out of Qarchak.  She added, “Let me also say this to the lackeys of this regime: I’m not scared of any of you. I’m screaming from prison: Down with the dictator! Down with Khamenei!”

The Jerusalem Post reported in October 2021 that Hejab “suffer[ed] from severe health problems” and had carried out another hunger strike.

In March 2022, the Center for Human Rights in Iran said that Hejab was ill but being denied medical leave.

In December 2022, Hejab was brought into court in a wheelchair and presented with further, unreported charges against her. Hejab reportedly was in a wheelchair because she had been assaulted and suffered injuries to her legs and back.

Release

Hejab was reportedly released from prison in March 2023.