Advokaten och människorättskämpen Narges Mohammadi  som tilldelades Per Anger-priset 2011, efter nominering från ICJ-s, är sedan i maj 2015 fängslad i Iran.

Narges Mohammadi är talesperson och vice ordförande för den iranska organisationen Defenders of Human Rights Centre, som förser politiska fångar med försvarsadvokater. Hon är även en av grundarna till Iranian National Peace Council, som består av författare, artister, advokater och aktivister, som arbetar för mänskliga rättigheter i Iran, och Step by Step to Stop Death Penalty, som kämpar mot avskaffande i dödsstraff i Iran.  För sitt arbete har Narges Mohammade förföljts av myndigheterna under flera år.

Narges Mohammadi fängslades första gången 2009 och dömdes i oktober 2011 till 11 års fängelse för bland annat ”propaganda emot staten”  och för sitt medlemskap i Defenders of Human Rights Center. Narges Mohammadi släpptes från fängelset 2013 av medicinska skäl. Narges Mohammadi lider av en neurologisk sjukdom som orsakar muskelförlamning. I maj i år fänglslades Mohammadi igen och tidigare i oktober skulle rättegången mot henne ha börjat. Den har emellertid blivit uppskjuten till följd av Narges Mohammadis sjukdom. Narges Mohammadi har till Amnesty International sagt att åtalsgrunderna är i princip samma som vid tidigare åtal och att bevisen emot henne bland annat består av intervjuer med internationell media,  kontakt med andra människorättskämpar och ett möte med Catherine Ashton, tidigare Europeiska unionens höga representant för utrikes frågor och säkerhetspolitik, som ägde rum i mars 2014.

ICJ-Sweden ställer sig bakom Amnesty Internationals upprop om att frige Narges Mohammadi samt att hon omedelbart ska tillförsäkras den specialistvård som hennes sjukdom kräver.

 

URGENT ACTION

NARGES MOHAMMADI’S TRIAL TO BEGIN 6 OCTOBER

Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi’s trial on national security-related charges will begin on 6 October in Tehran. She is still being denied the specialized medical care she requires. She is a prisoner of conscience. 

Narges Mohammadi’s trial is to begin on 6 October, on charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security”. She told Amnesty International, before her arrest in May 2015, that these charges stemmed solely from her peaceful human rights activism. She said the “evidence” used against her included her media interviews, the fact that she had taken part in gatherings outside prisons before executions to support the families of death row prisoners, her connections with other human rights defenders and her March 2014 meeting with the European Union’s then High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. Narges Mohammadi has also been charged with “membership of an illegal organization whose aim is to harm national security”, because she set up a group campaigning against the death penalty in Iran, Step by Step to Stop Death Penalty.

Narges Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, has told Amnesty International that neurologists have recommended she be hospitalized to receive specialized medical care, but the authorities have rejected such a transfer. She is now receiving her medications regularly.

The office of the Prosecutor General has also been denying Narges Mohammadi the right to make phone calls to her children, eight-year-old twins who moved abroad to live with their father as there was no one to look after them in Iran. It has been over two months since she last spoke with her children.

Please write immediately in Persian, English, French, Spanish or your own language:

• ν Calling on the Iranian authorities to release Narges Mohammadi immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for her peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and drop the new charges against her as they relate to her peaceful human rights activism;
• ν Urging them to ensure that Narges Mohammadi is given immediate access to the specialized medical care she requires outside the prison;
• ν Urging them to allow her regular visits and phone calls from her family, including her children, and lawyer, and ensure she is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, which the denial of medical care can amount to.