Latest Update on Atena Daemi in Conversation with Her Father; Seventh Case File Opened for Imprisoned Civil Activist

Atena Daemi’s father, a civil activist imprisoned in Evin Prison, says this is the seventh case file and currently the latest one opened for this political prisoner.

Hosein Daemi, father of Atena Daemi, a civil activist prisoner, said on Monday, June 9, in an interview with Voice of America that this civil activist was transferred on Sunday, June 8, from the women’s ward of Evin Prison without the presence of her defense lawyer to Branch 2 of the interrogation office of Evin Prison’s prosecutor’s office, and was informed of the charge of “disrupting prison order through anti-Islamic Republic slogans on the night of February 12, 2020.” Atena Daemi has rejected this charge.

Atena Daemi’s father told Voice of America that her defense lawyer has approached judicial authorities to review the case, but since the case is in the preliminary investigation stage, he has not received a response, and the lawyer is supposed to contact the prosecutor’s office in hopes of being granted permission to enter the case file this time.

According to Hosein Daemi, another case file was previously opened for Atena Daemi, which despite holding one court session, no verdict has been issued by judicial authorities to date, and it has been announced that this case is under review due to case deficiencies. He says that this civil activist was arrested on October 20, 2014, and from December 5, 2016 until now, without even one day of leave, she has served her five-year prison sentence.

According to available information, Atena Daemi’s five-year prison sentence will end on July 5. However, according to her father, a subsequent two-year and one-month prison sentence for the charge of “insulting the Supreme Leader,” which was issued for her on September 5, 2019, by Branch 36 of Tehran Province’s Court of Appeals, will then be executed.

Mr. Daemi, referring to the civil activist’s multiple illnesses, including M.S. and tremors in her hands and feet, which require her to be transferred to a hospital outside the prison for treatment, says that before the outbreak of the coronavirus, through extensive efforts and with the approval of the prosecutor overseeing the prisons, it was arranged that Ms. Daemi would be transferred to a hospital outside the prison. However, with the outbreak of this virus, her transfer to the hospital was canceled, and despite a circular from the judiciary issued in early March of last year following the outbreak of coronavirus and its spread in Iranian prisons, she was not granted leave or conditional release.

The release of some prisoners began on Wednesday, February 26, with the issuance of a new circular by the head of the judiciary, according to which limited leave orders were issued for a group of prisoners sentenced to imprisonment under certain conditions. In one of the provisions of that circular, it stated that political prisoners charged with “action against national security” who have been sentenced to more than five years in prison are “exempt from furlough.” This is while most political prisoners charged with the aforementioned offense have sentences exceeding five years.

Hosein Daemi, in his interview with Voice of America, expressing concern about the spread of coronavirus in Evin Prison, said that given the approaching end of his daughter’s five-year prison sentence, it was expected that according to the judiciary’s circular, she would also be released, but neither was she released nor was she granted leave. Mr. Daemi said that his daughter “remains in prison and other prisoners who had been sent on furlough have returned to prison again.”

Atena Daemi’s father, describing the health situation in Evin Prison as dismal, said: “The prison [Evin] does not have the necessary health facilities, nor a hospital, clinic, and laboratory where our children can go for testing to determine whether they have been infected with this virus or not.”

Mr. Daemi, at the end of his interview with Voice of America, emphasized: “In the current situation where our children are in danger, the families of prisoners want the release of their children, and we are asking the authorities to release Atena. Prison is not her right. She is a civil activist and human rights activist. Her concerns are humanitarian and for free people, and there is no need for her to spend time in prison.”