Letter from “Atena Daemi” to Her Mother at the Beginning of Her Fourth Year in Prison
“Atena Daemi,” a civil activist imprisoned in Evin, wrote a letter to her mother coinciding with the beginning of her fourth year in prison, detailing incidents from past years of her imprisonment.
Ms. Daemi’s letter was published at a time when, according to her, she had been denied visits with her family for three weeks.
Atena Daemi was convicted of distributing pamphlets and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment by Iran’s judiciary on capital punishment charges, and is currently serving her sentence.
In her letter, on the eve of her fourth year of imprisonment, she wrote to her mother: “Four years ago on this day, on the cold morning of October 20, 2014, I was heading to my workplace. You had gone to buy us fresh bread. I was late and without seeing you, I left the house with Father. We hadn’t even reached the end of the street when they blocked our way. They ordered us to stop, arrested me, transferred me to another car, and returned home with Father. Eleven officers. I didn’t know what would happen when you returned home and faced the officers. An hour later they brought me home too. I was shocked by the sight of you. I was shocked by your screams at the officers. You kept saying take me, take my daughter too, where have you taken all these young people?! Just kill me, kill my daughter too. You killed Atar Bahari and other young people, what did you achieve?! They threatened to arrest you too. I remember you saying take me as well. Haven’t you imprisoned and grieved enough mothers?”
“Atena Daemi” was arrested on October 20, 2014. After enduring 86 days in solitary confinement in Ward 2-A, she was transferred to the “Women’s Ward” of Evin Prison on January 15, 2015.
On May 16, 2015, she was charged by “Judge Moghisseh” in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court with “assembly and conspiracy against national security, propaganda against the system, and insulting the Supreme Leader” and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
On February 15, 2016, she was temporarily released on a bail of 550 million tomans pending retrial, and in that trial held in August 2016, her sentence was reduced to 7 years and was officially notified to her on October 7 of that year.
On December 27, 2016, she was arrested at her father’s house without receiving a summons, and in the “Evin Prosecutor’s Enforcement Office,” with the application of Article 134, her final sentence was reduced to 5 years imprisonment.
Ms. Daemi has been imprisoned without even a single day of furlough since December 27, 2016.
This civil activist, along with Maryam Akbari Monfared and Golrokh Iraee, two other political prisoners held in Evin Prison, has been denied visits with her family for three weeks beginning October 10 by verbal order of the women’s ward director. The reason cited for this is verbal altercation and sloganeering by these prisoners in the visiting room.
Ms. Daemi wrote in her letter to her mother, while recalling what she and her family have endured, commending her mother’s patience, forbearance, and courage, and considering her mother’s support as one of the most important factors in enduring recent difficult years.
She wrote: “We haven’t seen each other for three weeks, but you went to visit Ramin’s mother and Zaniar’s and Loghman’s and Sharif’s family in our burned-down house, you went to visit Narges and Homa’s parents. You didn’t see me, but you embraced the suffering of other grieving mothers… My mother, convey my greetings to the grieving mothers of Iran and tell them that as long as I am alive, I will seek justice for their children’s blood…”
The U.S. State Department’s annual human rights report has noted the failure to protect the rights of civil and social activists in Iran.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the largest prisons in the Middle East for civil activists and journalists.
Source: Voice of America
