We have conducted an interview with a young women's rights activist Nasrin Afzali after she ‎was sentenced by the judiciary to six months imprisonment and ten lashes. ‎

Rooz (R): Given that a majority of those who were arrested with you last winter were acquitted, ‎why do you think you received a sentence of six months imprisonment and ten lashes?‎

Nasrin Afzali (NA): When I first heard of the sentence I thought my attorney was joking. Prior ‎to the sentence, attorney Mostafaei had told me that there was a good chance for acquittal. But ‎we really did not expect it. After all, you can't expect anything here, whether on human rights, ‎the nuclear issue, or women's issues. ‎

R: When you became aware of the verdict, could you picture yourself behind bars, or do you ‎think the issue will be resolved in the appeals process? ‎
NA: I think this sentence is aimed to terrorize me and it will change in the appeals process. I ‎don't think this sentence was issued on any (solid) basis so that we can examine and discuss it. ‎

R: How terrified are you?‎
NA: Very! [with sarcasm!] Not at all. Not only has this sentence not lessened my determination ‎in my cause and made me limp with a cane, it has actually given me more determination. Such ‎sentences demonstrate their [officials'] confusion and frustration regarding women's issues. With ‎the momentum of the women's rights movement, every day more people across the country join ‎it. Even if they can jail ten, a hundred, or several thousand people, they can't jail several million. ‎In any case, these demands are becoming so popular and publicized that they can't silence them ‎with these actions. ‎

R: In your opinion, where would the government's costly confrontation with women's legitimate ‎demands take us? ‎
NA: The phenomenon of feminism and women's rights has entered the popular discourse and ‎everyone is talking about it in the different social groups. The issue is no longer an intellectual ‎exercise that is discussed among intellectuals and the elite. It is alive among the public now. So ‎their resistance and obstacles do not really make much difference. However many anti-‎feminism programs they want to air, and however much in millions or billions they want to ‎spend on this, it won’t make a difference. Eventually they will have to start thinking about ‎women's issues and find solutions for them. I believe that one day they will be forced to allow ‎grassroots organizations that spring up to solve people's problems to do their work and then ‎people will start solving their own problems. Alternatively, the more they try to resist them, the ‎closer we get to the boiling point, the consequences of which will have to be paid by them in the ‎end. ‎