Bereaved mother of slain Iranian protester faces 100 lashes for own defiance

The mother of Pejman Gholipour, a victim of Iran's crackdown on fuel demonstrations in 2019, is reportedly facing 100 lashes for protesting against her son's killing.

Mahboubeh Ramezani was arrested earlier this month, along with several other relatives of victims of the 2019 crackdown. She was sentenced to 100 lashes in absentia, and will now serve that sentence following her arrest. She is being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison. 

On 18 November 2019, her 18-year-old son Pejman Gholipour was fatally shot five times in the heart by security forces.

He was one of more than 300 people killed during the week-long fuel protests against gasoline rationing and a more than 50 percent increase in the price of fuel.

Ramezani's surviving son, Peyman, took to Instagram to comment on his mother's arrest, saying that she is familiar with the Iranian regime's intimidation tactics.

'Her only crime is seeking justice. This is the most important reason they fear her. They fear her because she has not even put down Pejman's picture for a moment'

"My mother was under pressure for a long time. They constantly intimidated her, and she had been summoned several times."

"What do we have to lose after Pejman? What is left after November 2019? They were looking for an excuse to silence my mother," he wrote.

"Her only crime is seeking justice. This is the most important reason they fear her. They fear her because she has not even put down Pejman's picture for a moment."

Ramezani was originally arrested in November last year, when she was detained after attending an event in the village of Malat, where Pejman was buried, to mark the anniversary of his death.

Last year, human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the "appalling" abuse of prisoners in Iran's Evin prison after leaked footage revealed conditions inside. 

Amnesty called the treatment of prisoners in Evin prison "cruel, inhuman and degrading".