Letter from Imprisoned Women to Tehran Prosecutor Regarding Atena Daemi’s Condition
Eighteen women detainees in Evin Prison sent a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor expressing concern about the physical condition of Atena Daemi, a civil activist, and requesting immediate attention to her situation. Daemi has been on hunger strike since April 9, 2017.
Following the continuation of Fatima (Atena) Daemi’s hunger strike—a civil activist and imprisoned child in Evin Prison—several women detainees wrote to Tehran’s prosecutor.
Amnesty International had previously expressed its concern about the condition of this imprisoned civil activist and emphasized that Ms. Daemi, who has been on hunger strike since April 9, 2017, should receive medical treatment as soon as possible.
Atena Daemi’s mother also wrote a letter twelve days after her daughter began her hunger strike to Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, stating that her daughter “has suffered from kidney and digestive system infections and developed cardiac arrhythmia.”
Now, more than a month after her hunger strike began, eighteen women detainees in Evin Prison have written to Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran’s prosecutor, requesting that he investigate the condition of this detainee.
According to the Center for Human Rights Defenders, the letter—which includes signatures from Narges Mohammadi, Nazanin Zaghari, Mehwash Shahryari, Golrokh Iraee, and Nasrin Bagheri, among others—emphasizes that despite the detainee’s dire physical condition, follow-ups by her family and lawyer have so far yielded no results.
In the letter, referring to the concerns raised by the continuation of Ms. Daemi’s hunger strike, it states: “We request that the honorable judicial authority issue the necessary order for investigation and, by utilizing your legal authorities, expedite the investigation process.”
Atena Daemi’s mother says her daughter was arrested by the intelligence service of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in late September 2014, following her participation in a peaceful gathering in front of the United Nations building in Tehran, protesting the attack by the “Islamic State” group (ISIS) on the people of Kobani in Syria.
She was initially convicted of charges such as “assembly and conspiracy to undermine national security” and “insulting the supreme leader” and sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment. The sentence was later changed in an appeals court and reduced to seven years.
Her mother says her daughter went on hunger strike in protest of “file fabrication” by the Guards. Some international human rights organizations have stated that the reason for her conviction was “posting on Facebook criticizing executions, presence at the cemetery of those killed in the 2009 election, and publicizing information about political prisoners.”
Source: DW
