Nargess Mohammadi’s Lawyer Issues Warning to Evin Prison Authorities
Nargess Mohammadi’s lawyer says his client’s health is in danger due to lack of access to a specialist doctor and specific anti-seizure medications. He has emphasized that the responsibility for any potential incident will lie with Evin Prison authorities.
Mahmoud Behzadi, a lawyer, has criticized the negligence of Evin Prison authorities in providing medical and treatment services to Nargess Mohammadi. He says his client is in a critical physical condition and her anti-seizure medications ran out three weeks ago.
This human rights lawyer told the “Emtedad” website about ongoing efforts to transfer Nargess Mohammadi to a hospital: “In recent days, we have notified prison authorities multiple times, and my client’s family has also requested that three doctors visit on a specific day. However, neither the court nor prison authorities have approved this request.”
Mahmoud Behzadi expressed regret that the head of Evin’s health services did not forward the transfer request to the prison administrator, and warned that the risk of seizure or neurological attack threatens Nargess Mohammadi at any moment.
He said that the prison authorities will bear responsibility for any unfortunate incident that may occur.
Emtedad website quoted Mahmoud Behzadi as saying: “First and foremost, we are concerned about my client’s physical health, but so far, despite submitting several letters requesting conditional release or legal furlough, we have not received any response.”
Nargess Mohammadi suffers from various illnesses including pulmonary embolism and has experienced several seizures and neurological attacks in prison. Recently, in a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor, she demanded access to medical and treatment facilities, stating that she has not been examined by her specialist doctor in the past year and a half.
This women’s rights activist and vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center has been imprisoned since Ordibehesht 1394 (April 2015) and has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. Six years of this sentence was issued for “propaganda against the system” and 10 years for activism in the “One Step Campaigns to Abolish the Death Penalty” (LEGAM).
Her lawyer said: “According to Article 58 of the Islamic Penal Code, if more than one-third of a person’s sentence has been served, conditional release should be granted. However, despite the fact that more than two-thirds of Nargess Mohammadi’s sentence has passed, my client is still deprived of her legal right to conditional release or furlough.”
Nargess Mohammadi is 46 years old and has a degree in physics. This activist has received several international awards including the “Alexander Langer Foundation” award from Italy, the “Per Anger” award from Sweden, and the Sakharov Prize from the American Physical Society.
Nargess Mohammadi’s twin children moved to France after her imprisonment and live with their father. Taghi Rahmani, a nationalist-religious activist who spent 14 years in Islamic Republic prisons, left Iran in Bahman 1390 (February 2012). He previously stated that the Iranian government is pursuing a project to disable his wife.
Source: DW
