Original signatories of the International Emergency Appeal who were once political prisoners in Iran

Former prisoners & years imprisoned in Iran

Anahita Rahmani - 8 years (3 years awaiting execution, 10 months in solitary); her sentence was commuted to life in prison; she was released after 8 years

Mina Zarrin - 9 years (4 years in solitary)

Mercedeh Ghaedi - 3 years (9 months in solitary)

Arash Kia

Susan Golmohamadi ~ 3 years (8 months in solitary)

Ashraf Ghiyasi - 3½ years

Monireh Haghighatjoo - 3 years (1 year in solitary); pregnant when arrested

Nasser K.H. - 8½ years; witnessed many IRI crimes including 1988 massacre

Mona Amiri - 3 years (1 year in solitary)

Ebrahim Toghian - 5 years (1 year in solitary); tortured‚ Strappado style

Shokat Mohamadi - 3 years (4 months in the "Coffin")

Alireza Azin - 7 years (1 year in solitary)

Mohamad Alabakhshi - 7 years (1½ years in solitary)

Referenced Torture Techniques

* Solitary confinement – prisoner is confined alone in a cell. (Sometimes, due to shortage of jail cells, there may be more than one person in the small cell.)

** Strappado – prisoner is hung from the ceiling with her/his arms tied behind the back (sometimes called the Spread Eagle posture). 

*** Coffin, also called Resurrection, Cage, Grave, Box, or Hell – used exclusively in the women’s ward of Ghezel Hesarprison in Karaj. The prisoner was placed in a coffin-shaped box adjacent to other coffins separated by prefabricated walls, and guards were present 24 hours a day. Inside the coffin they could only sit or lie down; they were kept blindfolded at all times, even during meals. Guards forbade any talking. However, in the brief periods when guards would move around, the prisoners seized the opportunity to hold each other's hands through small spaces in the walls, encouraging each other and expressing solidarity.  

See further description of these and other “techniques” used on prisoners in Iran in Amnesty International’s report on Torture in Iran.

Pictured: "Strappado" - Video from Amnesty International

Full List of Signers of the Appeal