In a five-minute trial a court in Iran has sentenced prominent political prisoner Narges Mohammadi to eight years in jail and 70 lashes, her husband announced.

Mohammadi was arrested in Novemberlast year at the death anniversary ceremony of a victim shot dead by security forces during the November 2019 protests, reportedly while shopping.

She has been to jail several times over the past two decades. She was freed from Evin Prison in September 2020 after serving more than five years when she had no contact with her husband and children for long periods of time.

Persecution of human rights and political activists and execution have increased since hardliner president Ebrahim Raisi took office last August.

Keyvan Samimi, another activist-turned-prisoner, was transferred from Evin late last week, and is being kept in quarantine in Karaj Central Prison.

Samimi has said he will stage a hunger strike, if he is not moved back to Evin, where Iran keeps most of its political prisoners.

An Iranian human rights monitoring group based abroad has reported over 2,300 protest rallies in the countryin 2021, with most events related to labor issues.

Iran executed 299 individuals in 2021, including four juvenile offenders - a 26-percent increase compared with 2020. Courts issued 85 death sentences until December 20.