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The Iranian authorities imprisoned human rights activist and journalist Narges Mohammadi, who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and 80 lashes for “anti-state propaganda” informs Amnesty International.
Mohammadi was arrested on November 16 in Karaj, Alborz province by security officials. This happened during a visit to the national memorial of Ebrahim Ketabdar, who was killed by security forces during the protests in November 2019. According to the husband of human rights activist Tagi Rahmani, she was severely beaten during her arrest and then taken away in an unknown direction. The next day, Mohammadi called her relatives and said that she was in Tehran’s Evin prison, where she began serving her sentence.
“As long as I am alive, I will not allow myself to be beaten” – leads Reporters Without Borders organization Mohammadi’s words to her husband.
“Narges Mohammadi is a prisoner of conscience, persecuted solely for her peaceful human rights work,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa. She stressed that corporal punishment is waiting for her in Mohammadi prison.
Amnesty International demanded to “reverse the unfair sentence” and to protect Mohammadi from “all forms of torture, including flogging.” Morayef called on the UN and the European Union to work to end the repression of human rights defenders in Iran.
Narges Mohammadi is Vice President of the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran. She participated in the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty. After nationwide protests in November 2019 and the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces, Narges Mohammadi provided legal support to family members of the victims.
Mohammadi’s verdict was delivered by the Tehran court in May 2021. Four months later, she received a notice that she had to start serving her sentence. The human rights activist did not respond to the notification, as she considers the verdict to be unfair.
In 2016, Mohammadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges related solely to exercising her right to freedom of expression and assembly, Amnesty International notes. In December 2019, guards, with the participation of the head of Evin prison, beat Mohammadi, who protested against her transfer to Zanjan prison, 300 km from Tehran.
Mohammadi has been supported by human rights groups from many countries. She was released from prison in October 2020. Mohammadi’s husband and her two children have been living in France since 2012.
Whipping is torture and is a crime under international law. It is prohibited by article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.
On November 17, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it once again condemned the Iranian authorities for gross violations of human rights, including the suppression of protests using military weapons.
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