Prosecution Opposes Conditional Release of Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi

The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has opposed not only the conditional release of Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi, but also the granting of furloughs to them. Zaghari, a dual-nationality citizen, and Mohammadi, a civil rights activist, have been imprisoned for nearly four and seven years respectively.

According to Mahmoud Behzadi-Rad, the defense lawyer for Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi, the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office has opposed not only the conditional release of these two political prisoners but also the granting of furloughs to them.

Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British dual national, has been imprisoned for nearly four years, while Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist, has been in prison for approximately seven years.

Behzadi-Rad announced this news on Saturday, December 21, and regarding Narges Mohammadi’s case, stated: “My client was supposed to be granted a furlough, and even the Ministry of Intelligence, as the case supervisor, had agreed, but unfortunately the prosecutor’s office objected.”

According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, the defense lawyer for Narges Mohammadi said regarding his client’s medical treatment: “Fortunately, the prosecutor’s office agreed a few months ago and my client was released from prison to undergo medical procedures and examinations by specialist physicians, but the doctors had said she should be examined continuously and at least once every six months, yet she has not been examined for several months now.”

Mahmoud Behzadi-Rad also spoke about his other client: “Nazanin Zaghari has been sent for psychiatric examinations several times, and she has a similar situation to Narges Mohammadi.”

This lawyer added: “We had submitted requests for conditional release and furloughs for both Nazanin Zaghari and Narges Mohammadi, but the prosecutor’s office has opposed both, while according to law my clients are eligible to benefit from conditional release.”

Narges Mohammadi, a mother of two, suffers from pulmonary embolism and muscular paralysis, which specialist physicians believe have worsened in the prison environment and stressful conditions, and could, if neglected, endanger the patient’s life. This civil rights activist was sentenced to ten years of definite imprisonment on charges of “forming the Legam group” (a campaign to stop executions step by step) and “propaganda against the system, assembly and conspiracy, and actions against national security,” and is currently serving her sentence in Evin Prison.

According to Mohammadi’s defense lawyer, this civil rights activist has served six years and eight months of her ten-year sentence and according to the “conditional release” law will be eligible for it.

International human rights bodies and organizations, particularly given Narges Mohammadi’s physical condition, have repeatedly called for her immediate release. However, Iranian officials and Iran’s judicial system have not responded to any of these requests.

Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, who has a young child, was arrested at “Imam Khomeini” airport on April 5, 2016, when she intended to leave Iran, and was taken to prison. The Islamic Republic’s judicial system sentenced her to five years in prison on charges of participating in a “soft coup.”

This Iranian-British dual national criticized the Islamic Republic’s conduct in her case in early September and stated that “my country put me up for auction for a large sum of money,” saying that “politicians” use her and her daughter as “tools” to achieve their goals.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister, told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that it was planned to mediate for Nazanin Zaghari’s release in exchange for settling “London’s 40-year debt to Tehran.” According to Zarif, former British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had proposed that the debt from the purchase of Chieftain tanks be paid in exchange for Zaghari’s release. However, Hammond left the Foreign Office in July 2016. According to Zarif, the proposal was for Britain to pay 400 million pounds of debt to Iran, and he would in turn make efforts for Nazanin Zaghari’s release from prison.

Nazanin Zaghari, who worked in Britain as a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been accused in Iran of “cooperating with Western intelligence organizations,” and is now serving her sentence in Evin Prison. Zaghari, her family, the British government, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which is an independent charitable institution separate from Thomson Reuters and Reuters news agency, have rejected and denied the charges against her as baseless.

The United States and some European countries accuse the Islamic Republic of using dual-national prisoners as “hostages” to achieve their political purposes. Jeremy Hunt, former British foreign secretary, accused the Iranian government on January 28 of last year of taking Nazanin Zaghari “hostage” in order to use her to apply diplomatic pressure on London.

Source: DW