December Protests; Continued Detention and No News of Mary Mohammadi’s Condition

Two weeks have passed since the arrest of Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi, a former political prisoner, and despite repeated follow-ups, there is no information about her fate. The family of Ms. Mohammadi remains concerned. Ms. Mohammadi was arrested on the evening of Sunday, December 22, near Azadi Square in Tehran, coinciding with nationwide protests in December, and was transferred to an unknown location.

According to Hrana news agency, the news organ of the Iranian Human Rights Activists Network, as of Saturday, January 25, 1399, two weeks after the arrest of Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi, a former political prisoner, there is still no information about her fate despite repeated inquiries, and Ms. Mohammadi’s family remains in distress.

On the evening of Sunday, December 22, 1398, gatherings were held in several cities across the country to commemorate the victims of the shooting down of the Tehran-Kyiv passenger plane over Tehran Province’s airspace by Iranian armed forces. Following these gatherings, a number of protesters were arrested. It is suspected that Ms. Mohammadi’s arrest may have occurred in connection with this, although no source has yet confirmed the link between her arrest and the aforementioned gathering.

As of the time of this report, there is no information regarding the reasons for her arrest, her place of detention, or the charges against her.

It should be noted that Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi is a former political prisoner and former Christian convert with a history of arrest and conviction.

She previously appeared for trial on April 8, 2018, before the 26th Branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court under the presiding judge Ahmadzadeh and was sentenced to six months of imprisonment on charges of “membership in missionary groups, Christian activism, and action against national security through propaganda against the system.” She was ultimately released from prison in spring of last year after completing her sentence.

The Christian convert, who was studying English translation at the North Tehran branch of Islamic Azad University, was unable to enter the university on Saturday, December 21, 1398, and was told without further explanation that she could no longer continue her studies at that university.

Source: Hrana