16 MPs protest heavy sentences and lack of information about Noushin Jafari and her sister in prison
Parvaneh Salahshouri, the first MP to protest the recent arrests of civil society activists, criticized the "severity of sentences issued to people like Marzieh Amiri, Atefeh Rangriz, and Noushin Jafari, in a statement on the floor of the parliament on September 1, and considered it regrettable to compare these sentences with those issued to embezzlers."
Salahshouri criticized the duality of Ebrahim Raisi's slogans before his election as head of the judiciary and after his appointment, saying: "But unfortunately, we are once again witnessing the repetition of rulings that the previous heads of the judiciary emphasized."
A day later, 16 members of the Omid parliamentary faction wrote a letter to the head of the judiciary demanding that the sentences issued to journalists and civil activists be amended.
The letter begins with the following: "Recently, heavy sentences have been issued against some journalists, such as Marzieh Amiri, Atefeh Rangriz, and Neda Naji, on charges of attending a workers' rally on Labor Day in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which has made it difficult to convince society."
These representatives, pointing out that they were sentenced to heavy sentences simply for gatherings or news coverage of gatherings, said: “If their crime was attending the gathering, that is not against the constitution, and if it was preparing a report, it was their inherent duty. The same is true of the treatment meted out to social activist Ms. Noushin Jafari.” However, in their letter to the head of the judiciary, the representatives of the parliament did not mention the name of Kiumars Marzban, a satirist who, according to his lawyer, was also sentenced to 23 years and 9 months in prison.
The representatives who signed this letter are: Ali Motahari, Elias Hazrati, Gholamreza Heydari, Ali Nobakht, Ghasem Mirzaei-Niko, Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Mostafa Kavakbian, Parvaneh Salahshouri, Tayyebeh Siavoshi, Seyedeh Hamideh Zarabadi, Farajollah Rajabi, Mohammadreza Tabesh, Bahram Parsaei, and Alireza Rahimi.
From September 2nd to September 3rd, three young prisoners were sentenced to heavy sentences by the branches of the Revolutionary Court. On September 2nd, the lawyer for Kiyomars Marzban, a satirist who was arrested shortly after returning to Iran, announced that his client had been sentenced to 23 years and 9 months in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. Mr. Marzban came to Iran in the summer of 2017 to visit his grandmother and was arrested by security agents in September 2018 and is currently in Evin Prison. However, the members of parliament did not mention him by name in their letter to the head of the judiciary.
Marzieh Amiri, a journalist for Shargh newspaper, was arrested during a protest by workers in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on May 1. Her lawyer, Amir Raisian, announced on September 25 that the journalist had been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison and 148 lashes by a judge from Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court.
Marzieh Amiri was a journalist for the economic section of Shargh newspaper and a student of social sciences at Tehran University. Marzieh Amiri’s trial was held on August 12, 2018, in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh. In an interview with Borna News Agency, her lawyer, Arash Dowlatshahi, protested against his client’s sentence and the others, saying: “These sentences issued to students, critics, and journalists are not in the honor of the judicial system, nor are they in the interest of our system. In addition, Ms. Amiri had also stated in her interrogations that she believes in the principles of the system and has criticisms and objections within the same framework.”
Also, labor activist Atefeh Rangriz was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison and 74 lashes by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court for participating in the International Labor Day rally (May 11). The labor activist is charged with “gathering and colluding against national security” and “disturbing public order” through participation in workers’ protests and International Labor Day protests.
Ms. Rangriz, born in 1988, is single and has a master's degree in sociology from Tarbiat Modares University. She was arrested in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly during the International Workers' Day protests and transferred to Evin Prison. However, a few days later, for unknown reasons, she was transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin, where she remains to this day. Neda Naji, another labor activist, was also arrested with Ms. Rangriz on May 1 during the workers' protests and is currently awaiting trial in Evin Prison.
However, the documents and evidence of the security charges against these three young men are unclear as to the basis on which they were convicted of these charges and ultimately to heavy sentences. If these sentences are confirmed by the appeals court, based on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, which relates to serving the maximum sentence among the charges, Kiomars Marzban will be sentenced to 11 years in prison, Marzieh Amiri to 6 years in prison, and Atefeh Rangriz to 7 years in prison.
Arrest of Noushin Jafari's sister; putting pressure on families
On the other hand, theater and cinema photographer Noushin Jafari has been in detention since August 4. After her arrest, respected Twitter users wrote that her arrest was related to a Twitter account called “Yardobestani” that published content containing insults to sacred things. After her arrest, there were widespread reactions from colleagues and the community of artists who questioned these accusations.
Noushin Jafari's lawyer, Amir Raisian, said in an interview that she had only had one phone call with her family, on August 19. In response to the question of whether Noushin Jafari had been charged with any other charges besides the charges of insulting sacred places and propagandizing against the regime, he said: "On August 19, I went to the Security Prosecutor's Office and the investigator of the case to announce my representation in this case, but they did not allow me to represent you on the grounds that the case was a security matter, and in the calls that Noushin Jafari had with her family, she did not talk about her charges."
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili described the charges against him at a press conference on August 12 as “insulting the sacred and propagating against the regime.” He claimed that the professional photographer was arrested for insulting “the Master of the Martyrs and mourning and propagating against the regime of the Islamic Republic.” However, he did not explain what evidence his claims were based on.
Eight days after the judiciary spokesman’s claims, an audio message from Noushin Jafari in Evin Prison was released. In the audio message, Ms. Jafari cries and begs her friend Shiva Nazarahari to save her. Ms. Nazarahari, who is living abroad to continue her studies, shared the audio message on her Twitter account on August 20, 2019, after receiving the audio message sent to her phone.
In this voice message, Nooshin Jafari addresses Ms. Nazar Ahari, crying and telling her that she is under pressure: "Shiva, I am under a lot of pressure here. Please give me the username, password, and email address of my school friend's Twitter account. Your family will be under pressure if you don't see this. Please help me get saved as soon as possible. Everything and Twitter have fallen on my miserable neck. Save me from here."
Shahrzad Jafari, the only member of her family who informed about Ms. Jafari's condition on Twitter, wrote after the audio message was broadcast: #SaveNoushin #NoushinJafari My sister's voice: #Save_me_from_here We are worried about Noushin's condition... We haven't heard from Noushin for several days... Who will answer?!? My family demands a #fair handling of this issue from the #judiciary and #parliamentary representatives.
The release of this audio file was met with reactions from many political and civil activists, especially those who were closely acquainted with Noushin Jafari. However, the spokesperson for the judiciary said again in his press conference on September 25 about the audio file released by Ms. Jafari: “We have repeatedly stated that prisoners contact their families, relatives, and individuals, and that we consider allowing individuals to contact us as one of the privileges of our prison system. Regardless of whether this voice belongs to the defendant or not, I would like to state in general that it is obvious and accepted for prisoners to contact people outside the prison, and these calls are made.” Regarding Noushin Jafari’s being under pressure, he added: “A person in contact may also claim lies, just as he is outside; but claiming to be under pressure is not a correct claim. Our investigations and detentions are definitely within the framework of legal rules and regulations.”
Shahrzad Jafari, Noushin Jafari's sister, reacted to the statements of the Judiciary Spokesperson on her Twitter account: "Mr. Judiciary Spokesperson, it seems you misunderstood the question!!! Do you consider the fact that my sister only had one 2-minute WhatsApp call during her 25 days of detention to be one of the privileges of the system to prisoners, and then put a photographer whose charges have not yet been proven next to a drug trafficker??" She continued in another tweet: "The reporter's question is about the video that #Noushin_Jafari sent to her friend on Instagram while crying, not about calling us." Shahrzad Jafari had previously announced that following the broadcast of this audio message, her family was even banned from entering the Evin Prosecutor's Office. She wrote: "After the video of my sister crying and pleading for help and rescue was released, today not only did the investigator of the case not respond to my mother, but they also prevented her from entering the Evin Prosecutor's Office."
But the judiciary's response to the information provided by Noushin Jafari's sister and her reaction to the statements of the judiciary spokesman was to arrest her. Shahrzad Jafari was arrested by security agents at her home on September 1. There is still no information about the reason for the arrest, the arresting agency, or her whereabouts. After her sister's arrest, Shahrzad Jafari wrote about her condition on her Twitter account.
Women's rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari, announcing the news of her arrest, wrote on her Twitter account that Noushin Jafari's sister had previously been threatened for informing her sister. Ms. Nazar Ahari wrote on her Twitter account: "#Shahrzad_Jafari, #Noushin_Jafari's sister was arrested this morning. They threatened her not to inform about her sister's condition, then they stormed into the house in the morning, are you Muslims? Their mother is knocking, damn it.."
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
