On November 16, 2021, the courageous Iranian human rights defender and journalist Narges Mohammadi was detained and taken to Iran’s notorious Evin prison to serve yet another prison sentence, this time for 30 months plus 80 lashes on charges of "propaganda against the political system, slander and rebellion against the prison administration."  She’s being held in solitary confinement and prevented from contacting her family, according to her husband Taghi Rahmani.

Charges had been issued against Mohammadi in September -- a year after she'd finished serving a five-year prison sentence – in retaliation for her filing a complaint against Evin Prison Director Gholamresa Ziaei, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.  In February 2021, Mohammadi described in a video how she had been beaten by Ziaei himself for organizing a non-violent sit-in inside Evin against the brutal crackdown against anti-government demonstrations in November 2019.

Since being released from prison in October 2020, Mohammadi has been repeatedly harassed and assaulted by Islamic Republic (IRI) security forces, yet she has not backed down from her human rights advocacy, speaking out against unjust executions and spearheading a major lawsuit against the IRI’s widespread use of solitary confinement.   On November 16, 2021 she was detained while at a commemoration of a father of two who was shot and killed by IRI security forces who indiscriminately fired on protesters during the mass anti-government uprising that swept Iran in November 2019.

Family Members, Prisoners’ Relatives, Rights Organizations Demand #FreeNargesMohammadi

Rahmani, who is a political activist, journalist, writer and signatory to the Emergency Appeal to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners, told the IEC:

“Narges Mohammadi is a human rights activist who has been jailed and indicted many times. She is now in solitary confinement. She has been fighting to abolish the death penalty, to fight against the solitary confinement as implementation of white torture, to oppose the anti-woman laws of the Islamic Penal Codes and supporting trade unions and civil society organizations, and the right to take to the streets as a right of protest, amongst of other efforts, that the government of Iran condemns/considers these activities/efforts and rights as crimes."

“The violence against women in the Islamic Republic of Iran is limitless,” says Mariam Claren, also a signatory to the Emergency Appeal whose mother Nahid Taghavi (a German-Iranian dual national) has also been unjustly imprisoned since October 2020. “Narges Mohammadi is a human rights defender and the voice of the voiceless. Therefore she is sentenced to 30 months in prison and 80 lashes. Lashes are a cruel and medieval punishment. She is now in solitary confinement. We should all raise our voice and demand her release.”

“Narges Mohammadi is a hero for repeatedly and courageously standing up against the Islamic Republic’s violent repression and countless injustices, risking her own life and freedom in the process,” states Dolly Veale, a spokesperson for the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC). “We join with Narges’ family, relatives and supporters of Iran’s many political prisoners, and legal and human rights organizations in denouncing Iran’s barbaric practice of flogging prisoners with whips or rods – a practice which could put Narges' health or even life in jeopardy – and in demanding that she be immediately and unconditionally released.”

"We also call on all who stand for justice to sign and urgently spread An Emergency Appeal: The Lives of Iran’s Political Prisoners Hang in the Balance – We Must ACT NOW! demanding freedom for all Iran's political prisoners."

This Appeal has been endorsed by over 3,000 people globally, including Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem, Ariel Dorfman, Jody Williams, Daniel Ellsberg, Judith Butler, and Raymond Lotta, and appeared as an ad on the back cover of the Summer issue of the New York Review of Books.

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Background:

FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow.org and Twitter @IranPrisonEmerg

Narges Mohammadi, “White Torture”: Why We Must Oppose Solitary Confinement," Ms. Magazine, November 17, 2021

"Mother of Two Facing Flogging, Prison—Two Years After Completing 5.5-Year Sentence," Center for Human Rights in Iran, November 17

"Iran: Release arbitrarily detained rights activist at imminent risk of flogging," Amnesty International, November 18

“Narges Mohammadi Arrested by Security Forces in Karaj During Ceremony Honoring Ebrahim Ketabdar,” Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), November 16

Twitter: #FreeNargesMohammadi

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Elika Ashoori, Daughter of Political Prisoner Anoosheh Ashoori & Signer of Emergency Appeal, to Join Hunger Strike on Monday

International Campaign (IEC) Demands Free All Iran's Political Prisoners Now

UPDATE November 13:

Today Richard Ratcliffe ended his 21-day hunger strike to free his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian citizen who has been unjustly held by the Islamic Republic of Iran for over five years on unproven espionage charges. She was recently given an additional one-year sentence, and also banned from leaving Iran for a year after that, prompting her husband’s second hunger strike in protest.

Ratcliffe’s action drew widespread support including from our Campaign and its supporters including Elika Ashoori and Mariam Claren, who both have parents now imprisoned in Iran. Ratcliffe’s hunger strike also attracted global media attention, shining a light on Iran’s illegitimate and depraved treatment and imprisonment of a vast array of political dissidents, including many dual nationals.

Ratcliffe’s courageous hunger strike and the enormous attention it attracted underscores the urgent need—and potential—to spread and strengthen the International Emergency Campaign and its urgent Appeal and step up the fight to free ALL Iran’s political prisoners now.

November 7, 2021:

On Monday, Elika Ashoori, the daughter of political prisoner Anoosheh Ashoori and a signer of the Emergency Appeal to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners, will join Richard Ratcliffe outside the British Foreign Office in London for the 16th day of his hunger strike. Ratcliffe is demanding the UK take stronger action to free his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, unjustly held by Iran for over five years on unproven espionage charges.

Both Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, as well as Mehran Raoof and Morad Tahbaz, are dual UK-Iranian citizens who have been imprisoned by Iran.

“I'm joining to show solidarity with Richard and to put pressure on the British government to take a more serious approach to the issue of British hostages in Iran,” states Ms. Ashoori. “So far, for over five years, their strategy has failed and people like my father, among many others, still languish inside a prison cell while the governments don't treat the issue with the urgency it deserves. We want to make it very difficult for them to carry on downplaying the severity of this problem.”

Mariam Claren, a signer of the Emergency Appeal whose mother Nahid Taghavi (a German-Iranian dual national) has also been unjustly imprisoned, sent a solidarity statement supporting Ratcliffe’s hunger strike:

“It's a shame that Richard has had to go on his second hunger strike in the last two years. And it is more shameful, that the British Government has failed for over five years to protect Nazanin and fight for her freedom. If the problem is between two governments over an old debt, why must an innocent mother be made to suffer? There are no excuses for human rights violations – in the Islamic Republic or the UK.”

“The International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners (IEC) supports Richard Ratcliffe in his courageous hunger strike, and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all dual nationals being illegitimately imprisoned by Iran,” says spokesperson Larry Everest. “We call on all who stand for justice to sign and urgently spread An Emergency Appeal: The Lives of Iran’s Political Prisoners Hang in the Balance – We Must ACT NOW! demanding freedom for all Iran's political prisoners.”

The Appeal concludes: "We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW"

"We say to the U.S government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS"

It has been endorsed by some 3,000 people globally, including Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem, Ariel Dorfman, Jody Williams, Daniel Ellsberg, Judith Butler, and Raymond Lotta, and appeared as an ad on the back cover of the Summer issue of the New York Review of Books.