Request from 20 Human Rights Organizations to Iran: Immediately Release Female Political Prisoners

Twenty international and Iranian human rights organizations have called on Iranian authorities in an open letter to immediately release female political prisoners. The letter contains the names of 50 female political prisoners who are detained in Tehran and other provinces.

The “Raoul Wallenberg” Human Rights Center, in an open letter signed by 20 international human rights organizations, has called for the immediate release of Iranian female prisoners. The letter was also signed by the Vice President of the European Parliament on behalf of the Association of Winners of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Human Rights.

The letter references the high number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Iran, and also cites warnings from experts at Sharif University of Technology who stated that the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Iran could be three and a half times higher than official figures.

The authors of the letter wrote that despite the dire current situation in Iran, the Iranian regime has reopened businesses since last week and resumed public transportation; an action that, according to the letter’s authors, could lead to a new wave of coronavirus spread.

“This situation is much worse in Iranian prisons,” and as stated in the open letter, in February the United Nations published a report on the unsanitary conditions in Iranian prisons and overcrowding; a situation that could cause rapid spread of infectious diseases, and now since early March, COVID-19 has been added to this list.

The open letter references unsuitable and unsanitary conditions in women’s prisons and the fact that more prisoners than capacity are being held there.

According to the letter’s authors, in each room of the women’s prison there are 18 female prisoners who perform all their daily activities such as sitting, sleeping, eating and drinking in the same room with very little distance between them.

These women also have no access to sanitary and medical supplies, and medication is being withheld from patients. The letter’s authors consider this an instance of torture. Some of these prisoners have gone on hunger strike in protest of these conditions.

Based on reports published so far, at least 10 prisoners in Iran have died from COVID-19. Although the letter’s authors have emphasized that they cannot confirm this figure because independent researchers do not have access to Iranian prisons.

Islamic Republic officials have stated that they have released tens of thousands of prisoners through furlough or pardon; however, the letter’s authors said they cannot confirm this figure. Beyond this, hundreds of political prisoners have not been included in this release.

The letter states: “This appears to be part of a policy adopted to further torture political prisoners by keeping them in dangerous prison conditions.”

The authors of the open letter concluded: “Therefore, we urge governments, non-governmental organizations, journalists, the United Nations and other international bodies to increase pressure on Iranian authorities for the immediate release of the recognized prisoners whose names appear at the end of this letter, as well as other political prisoners in order to save their lives.”

The letter’s authors have emphasized that the women whose names appear in this list are recognized human rights defenders, lawyers, writers, artists and environmental activists, and some of them have received the longest and harshest sentences in Iran’s history. The list includes Iranian prisoners as well as dual nationals.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Narges Mohammadi, Nilofar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Atena Daemi, Fariba Adelkhah, Zeinab Jalalian and Golrokh Iraee are among the 50 prisoners whose names appear on this list.

The open letter has been signed by several Iranian human rights organizations including the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, the Iran Human Rights Center, and the International Federation of Human Rights Societies.

Source: DW