Protest Against Mandatory Double Dress Code Results in Mitra Arabnasabi’s Deprivation of Family Visitation
Mitra Arabnasabi, a civil rights activist opposed to mandatory hijab who is serving her sentence in Kajoui Prison in Karaj, was denied the right to visit with her family on Wednesday, November 28, after refusing to wear a chador and protesting the mandatory double dress code during visitation time. This deprivation occurred despite Ibrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, previously claiming that wearing a chador was not necessary for detainees. Yasmin Aryani, a civil rights activist and Arabnasabi’s daughter, was also transferred to solitary confinement on Friday, November 23, after testing positive for coronavirus, and continues to receive inadequate medical care in that facility.
According to Hrana, the news agency of the Iranian human rights activists collective, on Wednesday, November 28, 1399 (November 28, 2020), Mitra Arabnasabi, a civil rights activist opposed to mandatory hijab imprisoned in Kajoui Prison in Karaj, was denied visitation with her family.
Arabnasabi’s deprivation of family visitation came after she refused to wear a chador and protested the mandatory double dress code, at the order of the prison’s security officials and the director of Kajoui Prison in Karaj.
This imprisoned civil rights activist’s deprivation of visitation occurred despite Ibrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, previously claiming that wearing a chador was not necessary for detainees. Gholamhossein Esmaili, the spokesperson for the judiciary, had also stated in September of the previous year that there was no obligation for prisoners to wear a chador. Furthermore, the Islamic Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code contain no reference to forcing imprisoned women to wear a chador. Prison organization regulations also do not state that imprisoned women must wear a chador during visitation, and political prisoners are exempt from wearing uniforms according to law—a regulation that has been violated for years, particularly in the women’s political prisoners’ ward.
An informed source regarding this prisoner’s situation told Hrana: “In a previous visitation, Yasmin Aryani and Mitra Arabnasabi had also refused to wear a chador and referred to the head of the judiciary’s statements and protested this arbitrary behavior in the prison, saying that such treatment of prisoners has not occurred in Qarchak and Evin prisons and that they only witness such conduct in this prison. Ultimately, the guards agreed to let them hold the chador and go to the visitation room. The prison director and head of security also responded by saying that with these actions, you will be deprived of the possibility of furlough or conditional amnesty, to which both Yasmin Aryani and her mother, Arabnasabi, said we remain steadfast in our belief in opposition to mandatory hijab.”
Hrana reported on Friday, November 23, on Yasmin Aryani’s infection and her transfer to solitary confinement in the prison.
The informed source added regarding Ms. Aryani’s physical condition: “Symptoms of the illness became apparent in Yasmin, but now she is being treated only with medication in the room where she is being held and is deprived of hospitalization and adequate medical care. During today’s family visit, some medication was also delivered to the prison; however, given Yasmin Aryani’s medical condition and despite requests for furlough for her and her mother, no response has yet been given to their request.”
It is worth noting that the prison had previously delivered only 40 vitamin pills out of every 60-pill package to Ms. Aryani. Arabnasabi, who suffers from migraines and thyroid disease, received only one sheet of her medications.
Yasmin Aryani was arrested on April 10, 2019, and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Tehran. She, along with her mother Mitra Arabnasabi, who was arrested one day after her daughter, were transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin. They were finally transferred on August 13, 2019, from Qarchak Prison in Varamin to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
This mother and daughter were tried in August 2019 by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court under the presidency of Judge Mohammad Moghisseh and were each sentenced to 16 years of punishment for the charges of “assembly and conspiracy with intent to act against national security, propaganda against the regime, and encouraging and facilitating corruption and obscenity.” In the appeals phase, they were each sentenced to a total of 9 years and 7 months imprisonment. Pursuant to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the severest punishment—5 years and 6 months imprisonment—is enforceable for each of them.
Mitra Arabnasabi and Yasmin Aryani were transferred on October 21 from the women’s ward of Evin Prison to Kajoui Prison in Karaj.
Source: Hrana
