[7] During the 2009 Iranian election protests, Reuters reported that Rafsanjani addressed a crowd at a banned opposition rally in Tehran on 16 June, and was subsequently prohibited from leaving the country.

[9] She was arrested and briefly detained at least twice after participating in an opposition rallies in Tehran on 20 June 2009 (together with four relatives),[10] and again on 20 February 2010 after "making blunt statements and chanting provocative slogans," according to Iranian state media.

Sometime before 27 February 2011, a video appeared showing Hashemi surrounded by several "hard-liners" threatening her with violence, insulting her, calling her a "whore," and chanting "Death to Rafsanjani".

She has written positively about the effective movements of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

[18] Recently she was introduced as "Faezeh, defendant of women's rights all over Iran" by United States Foreign office on their Instagram page.

Hashemi was arrested and released after taking part in a number of protests which erupted after a 2009 election which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reelected to office despite opposition claims the vote was rigged.

[citation needed] Her father, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was facing harsh criticism from conservatives who demand he publicly condemn opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi – he lost his seat on the powerful Assembly of Experts as a result.

[citation needed] On 17 March 2017, she was again sentenced to jail for six months because of spreading propaganda against the regime, Iranian news media reported.

[23] On 11 May 2022, she was summoned to prosecution once more over comments she made regarding prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija, which she claimed were a joke, as well support for sanctions against Iran.