Iran jails woman for removing headscarf in public

In December, a woman who removed her veil in Tehran became the face of protests

An Iranian woman who publicly removed her veil to protest against a mandatory hijab law has been sentenced to two years in prison, prosecutors say.

The woman, who has not been officially named, was found guilty of "encouraging moral corruption", Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said.

He added that 21 months of the woman's sentence had been suspended and that she was in need of medical treatment.

It follows dozens of similar arrests of Iranian women in recent weeks.

Most of those detained for defying the country's strict law on appearing in public in a headscarf have been released without charge.

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The woman sentenced in the capital, Tehran, on Wednesday was jailed for three months without parole.

She is "in need of long-term medical treatment and has to be seen by a psychiatrist", Mr Jafari-Dolatabadi said.

He criticised the suspension of the majority of her sentence and argued that she should serve the full term of her penalty.

In December, an Iranian woman who was detained after defiantly taking off her headscarf and holding it on a stick in Tehran became the face of protests in the country.

Images of her standing on a telecoms box in a busy street in the city were widely shared on social media. The woman was later freed.

The photograph of the woman was first widely used in connection to the White Wednesday campaign in which women in Iran wear white to protest against the country's strict dress code.

Since the Iranian revolution in 1979, women have been forced to cover their hair according to Islamic law on modesty.