Narges Mohammadi sentenced to 30 months in prison and 80 lashes

Tehran's Quds Judicial Complex has issued a new verdict against the vice president and spokesperson of the Iranian Center for Human Rights Defenders. The charges against Narges Mohammadi are related to a case that was opened against her while she was in prison.

According to HRANA, Narges Mohammadi, vice president and spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders, has been sentenced by Branch 1177 of the Criminal Court of the Second Judicial Complex of Quds, Tehran, to 30 months of imprisonment, 80 lashes, and two cash fines.

This ruling is related to a new case that was opened against Narges Mohammadi while she was in prison. Such rulings are not new and have been repeated against human rights activists over the past 42 years.

According to Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi's wife, the charges against him are as follows: "Propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran through the publication of a statement (a statement against the execution), a sit-in at the prison office (a sit-in in January 2019 to protest the killing of people in the streets across the country), disobeying the prison administration and officials (to end the protest sit-in), destroying windows, and slandering the accusation of torture and assault."

Repeated accusations

Narges Mohammadi, who had previously been sentenced to a long term in prison on similar charges, was released from prison in October 2020.

In November 2019, she and several other female prisoners held a sit-in at the Evin Prison office in solidarity with the November protests and those affected by the floods and earthquakes.

The head of Evin Prison forcibly and beaten her and sent her to Zanjan Prison in January 2019. The Zanjan Prosecutor's Office then introduced "publishing political statements, holding educational classes, and protest sit-ins in the women's ward" as evidence of a new case.

The vice president and spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders was released on October 8, 2020, after five and a half years in prison, but less than two months after his release, he received a summons to appear in court for trial on December 5.

Last March, Kari Andersen and Kari Elizabeth Kaski, two members of the Norwegian parliament, nominated Saudi civil rights activists Narges Mohammadi and Loujin Al-Hathloul for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Source: DW