SAD: British Woman Sentenced To 20 Years In Iran For Facebook Comment

A British woman has reportedly been sentenced to 20 years in
a hellhole Iranian prison for posting comments on Facebook allegedly
criticising the country’s leadership.

Roya Nobakht, 47, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, was
arrested last October when she was visiting the south-western city of Shiraz.

She was accused of gathering crowds, putting national
security at risk and insulting Islam after criticising former Iranian supreme
leader the Ayatollah Khomeini on the social media site.

She is thought to have described the government as being
‘too Islamic’.

Ms Nobakht had been held at the notorious Evin prison in the
Iranian capital Tehran before being sentenced earlier this week.

It had been feared that Ms Nobakht could have faced the
death penalty.

The part-time student at Stockport College has dual
British-Iranian nationality and has been living with her husband for more than
six years.

A source close to the family said: “Roya is devastated. She
is not doing well.

“She is just a housewife and is not an activist. She has
said she would rather die than be there for 20 years.

“She has been tortured and the conditions at the prison are
terrible. She is under a lot of pressure.

“They have taken confession under duress that she has said
something against the Iranian republic.”

Mrs Nobakht, who is among eight people jailed in Iran this
week on charges of insulting the country’s leadership on Facebook, had been on
a three-week holiday to Iran last year to visit friends and family.

A family friend said her husband, Daryoush Taghipoor, 47,
had gone to meet her from Manchester Airport but she did not appear.

He spent two months in Iran searching mortuaries, hospitals
and police stations.

He was eventually told his wife was in prison because she
had not been respectful of Iran and he was allowed to visit her for 10 minutes.

Mr Taghipoor has not returned to Iran for fear of being
arrested himself.

Negotiations between the UK and Iranian governments have
been complicated since the British embassy in Tehran closed following the 2011
attacks by Iranian protesters.

Andrew Stunnell, MP for Hazel Grove, who has been fighting
the family’s cause, said: “Unfortunately the Iranian justice system is pretty
incomprehensible to us in the Western world.

“What we regard as fundamental human rights are regarded as
crimes and Roya is in the midst of it.

“It’s absolutely preposterous. The Iranians have pounced on
her and charged her with offences which would be laughed out of court here but
they have gone on to impose an outrageously large sentence.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware that a
British national has received a custodial sentence in Iran.

“We are seeking to establish the full facts and are
following up the case with the Iranian authorities.”

The case is the latest in a growing row over internet
freedom in Iran. Last week six young Iranians were arrested after they posted a
video online of their version of Pharrell William’s song Happy.

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