Iranian judges have ordered a young female writer and activist to serve a six-year jail term for writing an unpublished fictional story about stoning to death in her country.
…
Amnesty International said that Ebrahimi Iraee’s plight was linked to a fictional story that the authorities discovered in September 2014 when they ransacked the couple’s house in Tehran and confiscated their belongings.
“The charges against Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee are ludicrous,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s research director for its Middle East and North Africa programme.
“She is facing years behind bars simply for writing a story, and one which was not even published – she is effectively being punished for using her imagination.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/06/golrokh-ebrahimi-iraee-iranian-writer-faces-long-jail-term-for-short-story-stoning-death
A person is going to jail for writing her thoughts down.
Just like Winston from George Orwell’s 1984… Ebrahimi Iraee is going to be punished not for harming others, not for destroying property, but for thinking in a way some people don’t like.
She will lose years of her life, her health, her earning potential because of this.
People often don’t understand the full implications of a prison term.
Even in the United States a prison term means you may never be able to hold a good job again… it can mean you go without proper medical care for years which inevitably damages your health for the rest of your life… it really can mean never living a good life. Your life does not magically return to normal, as if nothing ever happened, the second you step out of prison.
The reality is that Ebrahimi Iraee’s life may very well be over because she dared to think.
And apparently, there is no justice this side of death.