The Iranian authorities must quash a court ruling sentencing a Tehran woman to four and a half years in prison based on her peaceful human rights activities, Amnesty International said today.
On 4 April, the Revolutionary Court notified Mansoureh Behkish’s lawyers that she had been sentenced on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding with intent to harm national security” for her work with the group the Mothers of Laleh Park – formerly known as the “Mourning Mothers”.
Mansoureh Behkish, 54, has said she intends to appeal the decision.
Amnesty International believes that she has also been targeted for supporting the families of political prisoners summarily executed in 1988-1989.
“If Mansoureh Behkish’s jail sentence is carried out, she would be a prisoner of conscience, held solely for her peaceful human rights activities,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“The Iranian authorities must immediately quash the sentences against her and other members of the Mothers of Laleh Park.”
Comprised largely of women whose children have been killed, disappeared or detained in Iran’s post-election violence since June … >>>
