Shirin Ebadi: Ministry of Intelligence Intends to Kill Narges Mohammadi
Shirin Ebadi, head of the Iranian Human Rights Defenders Association, describing the condition of Narges Mohammadi in prison as critical, accused the Ministry of Intelligence of attempting to murder her. Ms. Mohammadi has been threatened to write a repentance letter in order to leave prison alive.
Shirin Ebadi, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, in a written statement, while referring to the unlawful transfer of Ms. Mohammadi from Evin Prison to Zanjan Prison and her detention among ordinary inmates in the women’s ward, wrote that security personnel encourage some prisoners with promises of “granting furloughs and other small privileges” to subject Narges Mohammadi to physical and psychological abuse.
According to Ebadi, Ms. Mohammadi had previously been subjected to abuse in this manner, which led to periodic muscle paralysis, and she was only allowed hospital treatment when she was dying.
Narges Mohammadi, vice-president of the Iranian Human Rights Defenders Association, was imprisoned in Evin Prison from May 2015 and was transferred to Zanjan Prison in December 2019. Her transfer to this prison was accompanied by physical violence by the head of Evin Prison.
Zanjan Prison does not have a separate ward for holding ideological and political prisoners, and Ms. Mohammadi lives among ordinary inmates, criminals, and drug addicts.
Continuing in her statement, Ms. Ebadi attributed the transfer of Narges Mohammadi to Zanjan Prison to her solidarity with those killed in November 2019, and clarified that prison officials “deprive her of health and medical facilities.”
In recent days, Ezra Bazargan, Narges Mohammadi’s mother, also expressed concern in a letter to the head of the judiciary about her sick daughter being held among ordinary criminal defendants, the unsanitary conditions of the prison, and the dangers to her physical and mental health.
Ms. Mohammadi’s mother, in this letter, referring to the fact that her daughter has been sexually and physically threatened by a prisoner accused of murder and robbery, wrote: “My 90-year-old husband and I are concerned about our daughter’s physical and mental health, and we declare this danger. We hold the judicial system responsible for any incident.”
Ms. Ebadi also referred in her statement to the inhumane treatment of prison security personnel toward Narges Mohammadi and wrote that a security officer who identifies himself as “Mahmoudi” and, contrary to law, makes “all decisions” regarding Narges’s case (rather than the prosecutor, judge, or court), told Narges that “if she does not write a repentance letter and resign from the Human Rights Defenders Association, her corpse will be taken out of prison.”
At the end of her statement, Shirin Ebadi, emphasizing that the aforementioned officer was present and witnessed the scene during the “deceptive transfer” of Narges to Zanjan in Evin Prison, added: “I accuse and explicitly state that the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic intends to kill Narges Mohammadi.”
Narges Mohammadi is currently serving her 16-year sentence. Six years of this sentence were issued for the charge of “propaganda against the system” and the remaining 10 years for her activities in the campaign “Step by Step to Abolish Capital Punishment.”
Source: DW
