"[They] peacefully protested against Iran’s compulsory veiling laws and advocated for a woman’s right to choose whether or not to wear the hijab."

Axar.az reports citing local media that a fellowship of United Nations human rights experts have condemned the Islamic Republic of Iran for handing out extensive jail terms to three Iranian women who protested the religious laws compelling women to wear religious hijab and modest dress attire.

Monireh Arabshahi, Yasamin Aryani, and Mojgan Keshavarz, have been held in Iranian custody since April of this year for "disrespecting compulsory hijab," have been sentenced by the Iranian Revolutionary Court to prison terms of at least 16 years each for disobeying the country's Islamic dress code.

The charges against the women stem from a video that was widely shared on social media in March, which was taken on International Women's Day. The video shows Arabshahi, Aryani and Keshavarz without their headscarves, disseminating flowers to women on the metro in Tehran while discussing their views on the future of women's rights in Iran.