Human Rights Watch calls for suspension of Iranian activist's sentence

Human Rights Watch is urging Iran to suspend a two and a half year prison sentence against women’s rights activist Delaram Ali. The group also wants Tehran to free 10 other students and activists being held for their participation in demonstrations, All Headline News reported Monday.

Ali, who works with the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality, was charged with “acting against national security” and “advertising against the system.” She was originally sentenced to two years and 10 months, as well as 10 lashes. An appeals court later upheld the conviction, but reduced the sentence to two and a half years.

“Women's rights activists, student activists – no one who criticizes the government is safe in Iran,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said. “These arrests should be seen as a sign of the Ahmadinejad administration’s utter desperation and insecurity about the basis of its own popular support in the country.”

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