Turkey releases anti-hijab Iran activist

Turkish authorities released an Iranian activist in the western province of Denizli who had been detained on grounds that “her visa had expired”, Hurriyet Daily newspaper reported today.

According to the newspaper, activist Maryam Shariatmadari fled from Iran in 2018, a year after she was sentenced to prison with a group of women for her vocal criticism of the Islamic Republic’s imposition of the hijab on women in the country.

Shariatmadari was arrested twice for removing her hijab in public places in Iran and started to be known as one of the leading anti-hijab activists in the country.

The activist who campaigned against rules forcing women to wear the hijab in public was arrested in Turkey, raising fears that she would be deported to face the death penalty.

According to the Turkish officials, Shariatmadari was detained on 7 September because her residency permit had expired.

READ: Iran sentences French academic to six years in prison

Turkish media reported that the woman has to leave the country within 30 days, but she will apply for international protection.

“Maryam Shariatmadari is a leading Iran activist who courageously defied forced hejab [sic] laws. For her civil disobedience, she was thrown to the ground & into the dungeon. She fled to Turkey but now [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has arrested her & wants to deport her back – she could well be executed,” tweeted the Iranian-American public intellectual Mariam Memarsadeghi.

URGENT:

Iranian women's rights activist & political refugee #MaryamShariatmadari has been detained by Turkish authorities and is facing deportation to #Iran where she will be imprisoned and possibly tortured and executed.@Refugees, @UNHCRTurkey save her life!#مریم_شریعتمداری pic.twitter.com/nsTvveV3iV

— National Union for Democracy in Iran (@NUFDIran) September 7, 2020