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‘Public pressure can lead to the freedom of political prisoners ‘

Shiva Nazar Ahaari, a human rights activist and a defender of women’s rights, is among the university students banned from studying. She was arrested on June 14th in the early days of the post-election arrests of political and social activists. Ahaari spent 102 days in Evin prison, 30 days of which were in solitary confinement. The following is an interview with her about the arrest and the overall conditions for prisoners in Evin.

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How were you arrested?

Around noon on June 14th, I was at work when an investigator from the Intelligence Ministry called and asked for me to go downstairs.
When I asked how long it would take, he asked me to say goodbye (presumably to co workers).

They had tried to arrest me in the very early hours of that day in my house, but since I wasn’t home, they weren’t able to arrest me. On my way to work, I knew that I would be arrested, but I did not want to run away.

When they came to my house, they took my hard drive, 30 CDs, some sheets of paper from campaigns with signatures, some brochures on street children, and other things of that nature.

I packed my stuff and waited in front of my office. A few minutes later, they came. Before getting in the car, I asked to see their arrest warrant. They showed me a photocopied piece of paper that read:
“Since a... >>>