Activist Iranian couple, financially ruined by arrests

Arash Sadeghi and Golrokh Irayi, a political activist couple, have been sentenced to fifteen and six years respectively for their activism, and the sentence has been approved by the appeals court.

Sadeghi told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that he was given seven and a half years for "assembly and collusion against national security", one and a half years for "propaganda against the regime", three years for "publishing falsehoods" and three year for "insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic".

His wife has been reportedly sentenced to five years for "insulting sanctities" and one year for "propaganda against the regime".

The couple were arrested in the summer of 2014 by the Revolutionary Guards intelligence. Irayi was released on bail 20 days later, while Sadeghi was allowed bail after seven months.

Sadeghi reported that the two of them have lost their jobs since their arrests.

"Golrokh was not able to get her job back as an accountant with a company, and I had to give up my partnership in a stationary store to avoid destroying the livelihood of my partner", Sadeghi said.

He added that the couple have been living off their savings, which are rapidly being depleted.

Sadeghi was a member of the MirHosein Mousavi campaign in the 2009 election at the Allameh Tabatabayi University student association and was arrested for two months during the election protests that followed.