Narges Mohammadi

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Narges Mohammadi
Born (1972-04-21) 21 April 1972 (age 49)
Zanjan, Iran
NationalityIranian
OccupationHuman rights activist
OrganizationDefenders of Human Rights Center
National Council for Peace
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2001)​
[1]
Children2
AwardsAlexander Langer Award (2009)
Andrei Sakharov Prize (2018)

Narges Mohammadi (Persian: نرگس محمدی; born 21 April 1972)[2] is an Iranian human rights activist and the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.[3] In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty".[4]

Background[]

Mohammadi was born in Zanjan, Iran. She attended Imam Khomeini International University, receiving a degree in physics, and became a professional engineer. During her university career, she wrote articles supporting women's rights in the student newspaper and was arrested at two meetings of the political student group Tashakkol Daaneshjuyi Roshangaraan ("Enlightened Student Group").[2][5] She was also active in a mountain climbing group, but due to her political activities, was later banned from joining climbs.[2]

She went on to work as a journalist for several reformist newspapers, and published a book of political essays titled The reforms, the Strategy and the Tactics.[5] In 2003, she joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi;[2] she later became the organization's vice president.[3]

In 1999, she married to fellow pro-reform journalist Taghi Rahmani, who not long after was arrested for the first time.[2][5] Rahmani moved to France in 2012 after serving a total of 14 years of prison sentences, but Mohammadi remained to continue her human rights work.[3] Mohammadi and Rahmani have twin children, Ali and Kiana.[2][3]

Legal issues[]

Mohammadi was first arrested in 1998 for her criticisms of the Iranian government and spent a year in prison.[5] In April 2010, she was summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court for her membership in the DHRC. She was briefly released on $50,000 bail but re-arrested several days later and detained at Evin prison.[2][6] Mohammadi's health declined while in custody, and she developed an epilepsy-like disease causing her to periodically lose muscle control. After a month, she was released and allowed to go to the hospital.[6]

In July 2011, Mohammadi was prosecuted again,[2] and found guilty of "acting against the national security, membership of the DHRC and propaganda against the regime".[6] In September, she was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment. Mohammadi stated that she had learned of the verdict only through her lawyers and had been "given an unprecedented 23-page judgment issued by the court in which they repeatedly likened my human rights activities to attempts to topple the regime."[6] In March 2012, the sentence was upheld by an appeals court, though it was reduced to six years.[7] On 26 April, she was arrested to begin her sentence.[3]

The sentence was protested by the British Foreign Office, which called it "another sad example of the Iranian authorities' attempts to silence brave human rights defenders."[6] Amnesty International designated her a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate release.[8] Reporters Without Borders issued an appeal on Mohammadi's behalf on the ninth anniversary of photographer's Zahra Kazemi death in Evin prison, stating that Mohammadi was a prisoner whose life was "in particular danger."[9] In July 2012, an international group of lawmakers called for her release, including US Senator Mark Kirk, former Canadian Attorney General Irwin Cotler, UK MP Denis MacShane, Australian MP Michael Danby, Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein, and Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris.[10]

On July 31, 2012, Mohammadi was released from prison.[11]

On 31 October 2014, Mohammadi made a moving speech at the gravesite of Sattar Beheshti, stating, "How is it that the Parliament Members are suggesting a , but nobody spoke up two years ago, when an innocent human being by the name of Sattar Beheshti died under torture in the hands of his interrogator?" Despite the act of extreme violence against Beheshti, which was met with an international uproar back in 2012, his case still raises questions and Evin prison still witnesses torture and unfair arrests of human rights defenders until today. The video of Mohammadi's 31 October speech quickly went viral on social media networks resulting in her being summoned to Evin Prison Court. "In the summons I received on 5 November 2014, it is stated that I must turn myself in 'for charges,' but there is no further explanation about these charges," she stated.[12]

On May 5, 2015, Mohammadi was again arrested on the basis of new charges.[13] Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced her to ten years' imprisonment on the charge of “founding an illegal group” for Legam (the step by step to stop the death penalty campaign), five years for “assembly and collusion against national security,” a year for “propaganda against the system” for her interviews with international media and her March 2014 meeting with the EU’s then High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.[14] In January 2019, Mohammadi was reported to have begun a hunger strike, along with the detained British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in Tehran's Evin prison, to protest being denied access to medical care.[15] In July 2020, she was showing symptoms of a COVID-19 infection, from which she appeared to have recovered by August.[16]

On 8 October 2020, Mohammadi was released from prison.[17]

On 27 February 2021, she released a video via social media explaining that she had been summoned to court twice in December, for a case that had been opened against her while she was still in prison. Mohammadi stated that she was refusing to appear in court and would be disobeying any judgements made. In the video, she describes the sexual abuse and ill-treatment she herself and other women were subjected to in prisons and says authorities had still not responded to the complaint she had made in this regard on 24 December. The new case opened against her concerned the sit-in staged by female political prisoners at Evin Prison, in protest to the killing and arrests of protesters by security forces in November 2019.[18]

In March 2021, Mohammadi penned the foreword to the Iran Human Rights Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran. She wrote: "The execution of people like Navid Afkari and Ruhollah Zam in the past year, have been the most ambiguous executions in Iran. Issuing the death penalty for Ahmadreza Djalali is one of the most erroneous sentences and the reasons for the issuance of these death sentences need to be carefully examined. These people have been sentenced to death after being held in solitary confinement and subjected to horrific psychological and mental torture, that is why I do not consider the judicial process to be fair or just; I see keeping defendants in solitary confinement, forcing them to make untrue and false confessions that are used as the key evidence in issuing these sentences. That’s why I am particularly worried about the recent arrests in Sistan and Baluchistan and Kurdistan, and I hope that anti-death penalty organisations will pay special attention to the detainees because I fear that we will be facing another wave of executions over the coming year."[19]

In May, Branch 1188 of Criminal Court Two in Tehran sentenced Mohammadi to two-and-a-half years in prison, 80 lashes and two separate fines for charges including “spreading propaganda against the system.” Four months later, she received a summons to begin serving this sentence, but she did not respond since she considered the conviction unjust.[20]

On 16 November, 2021, Mohammadi was arbitrary arrested in Karaj, Alborz province, while attending a memorial for Ebrahim Ketabdar, who was killed by Iranian security forces during nationwide protests in November 2019.[21]

Awards and accolades[]

References[]

  1. ^ Farangis Najibullah (27 February 2008). "Iran: Activist 'Dynamic Duo' Fight for Human Rights". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Muhammad Sahimi (10 May 2012). "Nationalist, Religious, and Resolute: Narges Mohammadi". PBS. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e Saeed Kamali Dehghan (26 April 2012). "Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi arrested". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  4. ^ Saeed Kamali Dehghan (24 May 2016). "UN condemns 16-year jail sentence for Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Narges Mohammadi, from Iran, recepient [sic] of the international Alexander Langer award 2009". Alexander Langer Foundation. 18 June 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  6. ^ a b c d e Saeed Kamali Dehghan (28 September 2011). "Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  7. ^ Saeed Kamali Dehghan (7 March 2012). "Iran steps up crackdown on journalists and activists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Urgent Action: human rights Defender imprisoned". Amnesty International. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  9. ^ "Lives of several imprisoned journalists and netizens in danger". Reporters Without Borders. 10 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  10. ^ "International Lawmakers Call on Iran to Release Narges Mohammadi". kirk.senate.gov. 26 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  11. ^ "Iran: List of human rights defenders behind bars". Worldwide Movement for Human Rights. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  12. ^ "Iran: Judicial Harassment of Human Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi". www.gc4hr.org. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  13. ^ Erdbrink, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Iran Arrests Prominent Rights Activist". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  14. ^ "Iran Human Rights Defenders Report" (PDF). Iran Human Rights. November 12, 2020. Retrieved Mar 10, 2021.
  15. ^ "Zaghari-Ratcliffe to go on hunger strike in Iranian jail". The Irish Times. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  16. ^ "Iran frees activist Narges Mohammadi, cuts her sentence". Deutsche Welle. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Iran frees prominent rights activist, news agency reports". Reuters. 8 October 2020.
  18. ^ "2020 Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran" (PDF). Iran Human Rights. March 30, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  19. ^ "Narges Mohammadi: Violence of Death Penalty is Worse Than War". Iran Human Rights. March 30, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  20. ^ "Iran: Release arbitrarily detained rights activist at imminent risk of flogging". Amnesty International. 2021-11-18. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  21. ^ "Iran: Release arbitrarily detained rights activist at imminent risk of flogging". Amnesty International. 2021-11-18. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  22. ^ "Iranian Nobel Laureate Dedicates Prize To Jailed Colleague". Radio Free Europe. June 16, 2010.
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