Prisoner of Conscience, Narges Mohammadi's Trial Date Set For 20 April
Iranian human rights defender and prisoner of conscience, Narges Mohammadi, has been informed that her court hearing is scheduled on 20 April. She has not been allowed to make any contact with her children for over eight months. She remains critically ill.
Prominent human rights defender and prisoner of conscience, Narges Mohammadi,is scheduled to go on trial on 20 April on charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security”, all of which stem from her peaceful human rights activism. Her court hearings have been postponed several times in the past months without any explanation provided by the court. She also faces a new charge of “insulting officers while being transferred to a hospital” in a separate case. This charge was brought against Narges Mohammadi after she filed a complaint with regards to the degrading and inhumane treatment she received by the prison guards when she was transferred to hospital for examinations, including their refusal to allow her a confidential consultation with her doctors.
Narges Mohammadi suffers from various medical conditions, such as pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in her lungs) and a neurological disorder that can result in seizures and temporary partial paralysis. In October 2015, she suffered several seizures which eventually prompted the authorities to allow her to be hospitalized. Her treatment was, however, disrupted as she was returned to prison against her doctor’s advice after 17 days. The authorities handcuffed her to the hospital bed for her first few days in hospital. They also had officers inside the room and at the door the entire time she was there, which is believed to have interfered with doctors undertaking examinations. The office of the Prosecutor General has been denying Narges Mohammadi the right to have access to her children for more than eight months. Her eight-year-old twins had to moved abroad to live with their father as there was no one to look after them in Iran. In February, she wrote an open letter to the Head of the Judiciary expressing concerns that the authorities were using her children in order to exert pressure on her. She also said, “The issue is very simple; I am a mother and I have a right to hear my children’s voice even if [this] mother has been found guilty in your opinion and that of the institution under your supervision.”
Please write immediately in Persian, English, Arabic, French, Spanish or your own language:
n Calling on the Iranian authorities to release Narges Mohammadi immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly;
n Urging them to ensure that Narges Mohammadi is immediately granted access to specialized medical care outside the prison and that she is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, which the denial of medical care can amount to;
n Urging them to allow her regular contact with her lawyer and visits and phone calls from her family, including her children.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 16 MAY 2016 TO:
Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Prosecutor General of Tehran
Abbas Ja’fari Dolat Abad
Please send your appeals care of diplomatic representatives accredited to your country, listed below. If there is no Iranian diplomatic office, please mail the letter to the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN in New York City.
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the fourth update of UA 105/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/2774/2015/en/
Additional Information
Narges Mohammadi had begun serving a six-year jail sentence in April 2012, for “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system” through her human rights activism. She was released three months later, after being granted leave from prison to obtain medical treatment for a health condition that caused partial paralysis, which was exacerbated by her imprisonment. She has also suffered from seizures and temporary loss of vision.
Before she was arrested in May 2015, Narges Mohammadi told Amnesty International, that her charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security” stemmed solely from her peaceful human rights activism. She said the “evidence” used against her included her media interviews, the fact that she had taken part in gatherings outside prisons before executions to support the families of death row prisoners, her connections with other human rights defenders and her March 2014 meeting with the European Union’s then High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. Narges Mohammadi has also been charged with “membership of an illegal organization whose aim is to harm national security”, because she set up a group campaigning against the death penalty in Iran, Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty.
From Evin Prison, Narges Mohammadi wrote a letter to the Public Prosecutor of Tehran in October 2015, in which she explained how inhumanly and unfairly she was treated by the prison guards when she was transferred to the hospital for examinations and how her request for having a confidential consultation with her doctor was refused by the prison director. She wrote about her experience during the hospitalization, after she had suffered several seizures: “After 5 days, I finally was hospitalised. Since I was transferred from Evin to the hospital, I have been handcuffed, even when the doctor had to measure the blood pressure. As we entered the room, they immediately bound me to the bed, as a result, I was not able to lie down nor seat comfortably. Because of the nerves’ tension, my health got worse and worse. None cared of my protests and appeals. From 11 October until 18, I was denied any conversation, even with my parents. I was forbidden from going out of my room [..]. The door of the room was closed, so were the curtains.”
The Iranian authorities frequently return prisoners whom they transfer to hospital to prison without ensuring that they receive the medical care they need. (See: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/2508/2015/en/). Failing to provide adequate medical care to prisoners is a violation of Iran’s international human rights obligations. The denial of medical treatment may amount to a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment, under Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iran is also a state party, specifically recognizes the right of every person to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules) also state that prisons must provide adequate medical care to prisoners without discrimination (Rules 24-35). Rule 27(1) of the Mandela Rules provides that “Prisoners who require specialized treatment or surgery shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals.”