The daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been accused of propaganda activities against the country and blasphemy in social media comments, a court announced on Sunday.

“The indictment (…) was issued and sent to court for propaganda activities against the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and blasphemy,” said Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Ali Salehi, according to the website of the judiciary Mizan Online.

The charges relate to comments allegedly made by Faezeh Hashemi, 59, a former lawmaker and women’s rights activist, during an audio debate on a social media forum in April.

Hashemi reportedly said Iran’s demand for the Revolutionary Guards – the country’s ideological arm of the military – to be removed from a US terrorist list was “prejudicial” to the country’s “national interests”, according to reports. local media.

The removal of the Guards’ terrorist designation is a key sticking point in negotiations to restore Tehran’s frayed 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Hashemi also made separate comments regarding Khadija, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad.

She reportedly referred to Khadija as a “businesswoman”, showing that women can also engage in economic activity, and whose money the Prophet spent.

She later said the comments were a “joke… without any intention to insult”, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Hashemi’s late father was a moderate who advocated improving ties with the West and the United States.

In 2012, she was sentenced to six months in prison for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.