Iranian dentistry student Khatereh Khodadadi, who was detained in Belarus over comments about Iran posted in a Telegram channel, has been deported from the country, but not to her homeland. Instead, she was sent to Armenia. The information was provided by a former cellmate and shared with the human rights centre Viasna.
Khodadadi was initially sentenced to 14 days of administrative arrest. However, after the sentence expired, she was not released and remained in custody awaiting deportation. According to the former cellmate, Georgia refused to admit the student out of concern that Iranian authorities could abduct her there. She was ultimately deported to Armenia. While she was being held at the detention centre on Akrestsina, journalists visited and filmed a report about her.
The cell where Khodadadi was held measured about 24 square metres and was designed for five people, but at times housed as many as 12 women, some of whom slept on the floor. According to the former cellmate, only foreign detainees were allowed to shower twice a week, while Belarusian detainees were not granted the same access.
Khatereh Khodadadi studied at the Faculty of Foreign Students of the Belarusian State Medical University. She was listed as a participant in a student conference in Minsk on April 29–30 with a presentation titled “A Snow-White Smile: A Gift of Nature or an Achievement of Medicine?”
