Letter of Atefeh Rangriz: "Against the Injustice Done to Me, I Make my Body a Weapon"
Summary by Abdorrahman Boroumand Center:
In this October 16, 2019 open letter from Qarchak Prison declaring the commencement of her hunger strike, labor activist Atefeh Rangriz describes violations of due process in her case.
Rangriz reports that she was detained at a May Day 2019 protest (which HRANA notes occurred before the Iranian parliament and was broken up by security forces) and, four days later, denied freedom despite the issuing of a 30 million toman bail. After 28 days of interrogation, she was transferred from Qarchak Prison to Evin Detention Center where she was confronted with what she describes as “an obviously trumped-up case.” Bail in her case was then raised from 50 to 70 million tomans; the Prosecutor’s Office nonetheless refused to accept it.
Rangriz’ first trial was conducted by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court under Judge Moqisseh on August 5, 2019. Rangriz describes show trial-like proceedings in which she was not permitted to defend herself or ask questions. Judge Moqisseh raised her bail to 2 billion tomans; despite her family raising this sum, she was not granted freedom. A sentence of eleven and a half years of incarceration was delivered to Rangriz’s lawyer for charges Rangriz reports were raised by her interrogators and not substantiated by the facts of the case.
HRANA notes that Rangriz’ sentence was communicated to her lawyer on August 31, 2019 and also included 74 lashes.