Narges Mohammadi's letter about the torture of detained protesters
Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist who is currently in prison, has reported in a letter of her observations the painful condition of two of those arrested during the recent protests.
Narges Mohammadi, vice president and spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders, has issued a letter from Evin Prison, highlighting the painful condition of two of the detainees in the recent protests and reporting on the mental and physical torture they have been subjected to. Condemning the government's repression and killing of protesters, she has called for the punishment of those responsible for the killing of helpless people to become a public demand.
In his letter dated December 1, explaining his observations of a young man shot and pale in Evin Prison, Mohammadi writes: “His appearance shows that the bleeding, infection, and unimaginable swelling of his leg have crippled him until the guards of Evin Security Ward 209 brought him from solitary confinement to the hospital. He is a young man from Islamshahr. A young man from the same class that the Islamic Republic was supposed to be their servant. When we told him to insist that your leg be treated or it will be amputated in this condition, he said, ‘What difference does it make if I am going to be executed with or without a leg?’ Since the day I was arrested, they haven’t even put betadine on my wound.”
Mohammadi also gave another example of his observations. He points to a 20-year-old girl who was transferred from Vazra Prison to the women's ward: "Her eyes showed her intense anxiety. On the way, she got out of the car and went to a group of people who had gathered to protest the high price of gasoline, and was arrested. During the interrogation, or rather, to extract a confession, the male interrogator grabbed and pulled her by the hair and cursed her with vulgar words that she could not repeat. He untied the belt around her waist and slammed her against the table and chair so that the young girl would be scared and tell the camera whatever she wanted, not once but several times. Like many of her peers, she did not manage to study at university and was busy working, and was transferred to Qarchak Prison among those accused of murder, drugs, etc."
A request that should become a public demand.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far refused to release the exact number of victims, detainees, and injured in the recent protests. Some members of parliament have called for the formation of a fact-finding commission, and Amnesty International has also announced in its latest statistics that the number of deaths has exceeded 200. Earlier, the spokesman for the National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament announced that “about seven thousand people” had been arrested in the recent protests in Iran.
Referring to the Islamic Republic's rulers' claim that "protest is the people's right," Mohammadi continues his letter by writing: "But we do not remember a protest or even criticism that did not result in repression by the government. The government has shown that it does not tolerate the most peaceful protests and even responds to silent demonstrations with bullets."
The spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders concluded his letter from prison by emphasizing the need to turn the demand for punishment of the perpetrators of the massacre into a public demand: "The massacre of people who are suffering and tired of oppression is so brutal and violent that it cannot be justified by any excuse or pretext from the government. There is only one demand that can be made, and that is the punishment of the perpetrators of the massacre of helpless people, and this issue must become a public demand."
Narges Mohammadi, the vice president of the Iranian Center for Human Rights Defenders, has been in Evin Prison since May 2015 on charges of “propaganda against the regime” and activity in the Step by Step Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison and is denied visits and phone calls to her two children.
Kiana and Ali live with their father, Taghi Rahmani, outside of Iran.
Source: DW
