The Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced civil rights activists and Mozhgan Keshavarz, Yasaman Ariani, and her mother Monireh Arabshahi, to 55 years in prison combined. The three are currently held in Varamin Prison.

According to HRANA, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, the three were tried and sentenced by Judge Moghiseh on the charges of “conspiracy and assembly to act against national security, propaganda against the regime, and facilitating corruption and depravity”.

Their sentences were delivered without the presence of their attorney.

On March 8th, the International Women’s Day, the three civil activists offered flowers and pastry to passengers in Tehran’s subway. The video of this event went viral on social media which caused an uproar in state media.

Amir Raeesian, the defense attorney for Yasamin Ariani and Monireh Arabshahi announced that “at no point during the process, neither during the interrogation nor even trial sessions were the defense attorneys allowed to attend.”

Mozhgan Keshavarz’s attorney, Mohammad Moghimi also reported that he was not allowed to participate in any stage of the process.

Moghimi announced that aside from the three aforementioned charges, Ms. Keshavarz has also been sentenced to seven years and six months in prison on the charge of “blasphemy”.

In recent months the crackdown on “improper hijab” has intensified due to the requests from the Friday-Prayer Imams across the country.