Nasrin Hassani, a journalist and the editor-in-chief of the banned weekly Seyahat-e Sharq, was released from Bojnurd Prison after serving approximately 17 months.
According to a report received by the Defending of Free Flow of Information (DeFFI), Hassani was freed after completing her sentence. On January 4, 2024, she was arrested to serve her sentence after reporting to Branch 2 of the Bojnurd Prosecutor’s Office for the execution of her verdict and was transferred to Bojnurd Prison.
Hassani was among those detained during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. In September 2022, IRGC intelligence agents arrested her at her home. On November 5, 2023, Branch 2 of the Bojnurd Criminal Court sentenced her to seven months in prison for “disturbing public opinion by spreading false information online” and fined her one million tomans for “appearing in public without proper hijab”.
On January 23, 2024, while still imprisoned, Branch 2 of the North Khorasan Province Appeals Court upheld a one-year prison sentence issued by the initial court. Earlier, Branch 1 of the Bojnurd Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Habibollah Pirgazi, had sentenced Hassani in absentia to one year in prison for “propaganda against the system”, citing her “publication of content and images online” as evidence.
On June 28, 2024, during Iran’s presidential election, Hassani was rearrested before the end of her leave for criticizing the election, which critics described as “non-competitive,” “undemocratic,” and “orchestrated.” This led to a third case against her since her 2022 arrest. The Bojnurd Revolutionary Court later sentenced her to six months in prison for “spreading false information”.