Zhina Modares Gorji
Zhina Modares Gorji | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Iran |
| Other names | Jina |
| Education | Islamic Azad University |
| Occupation | book seller |
| Known for | imprisoned for speaking freely |
| Predecessor | ~ Karima Baloch |
Zhina (or Jina) Modares Gorji is an Iranian book seller, and feminist podcaster in the city of Sanandaj. She has been imprisoned for sedition and she is a human rights cause celebre. She was included in the BBC's 100 inspiration women in 2024.
Life
[edit]Gorji is a Baroch woman who was a book seller in the Iranian city of Sanandaj.[1]
She was first arrested in September 2022[2] and in June 2023 she was informed that there were further changes and she was banned from taking her university exams in sociology at the local Islamic Azad University.[3]
In May 2024 Gorji learned that she had been sentenced by the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court to twenty-one years in jail. She was to serve ten years for "collaboration with a hostile government"; another ten for “forming groups and association with the intention of disturbing the national security” and an extra year for "propaganda activities against the state". This sentence was reduced on appeal to 28 months.[4]
Gorji's case was taken up by Mary Lawlor who is the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. Lawlor believes that the charges against her arise from Gorji's legitimate activities of encouraging girls to form book groups and to write blogs. She and others have written to the Iranian authorities to raise their concerns.[5] The case was also championed by the human right's groups of Hengaw,[3] the Coalition For Women In Journalism[2] and Frontline Defenders[4] and she was included in the BBC's list of 100 inspirational women in 2024.[1][6] She was not the first Baloch woman to be included as Karima Baloch had been included in the BBC's 100 Women in 2016 as a political activist campaigning for the "independence for Balochistan from Pakistan." Baloch was later found drowned.[7][8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Women Activists from Balochistan and Kurdistan Nominated to BBC's 100 Influential Individuals". Balochwarna/>. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ a b "Iran: Jina Modares-Gorji Ordered to Prison Amid Continued Legal Harassment by Iranian Regime". Coalition For Women in Journalism. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ a b "The journalist, Zhina Modaresgorji, faces more pressure while being held in prison". Hengaw (hengaw.net). 30 June 2023. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ a b "Jina Modares Gorji started serving prison sentence". Front Line Defenders. 2024-11-08. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ Dussart, Jade (2024-11-13). "Iran: lengthy prison sentences against HRDs from the Nozhin socio-cultural association & WHRD Jina Modares Gorji". UN SR Human Rights Defenders. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ "BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News". News. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ "Karima Baloch: Pakistani rights activist found dead in Toronto". BBC. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
- ^ "Karima Baloch, Pakistani human rights activist, found dead in Canada". The Guardian. 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2024-12-13.