Iranian of the Day

RAHANA: Atefeh Nabavi, 30, is a student activist and graduate student who was banned from continuing her education. She was arrested on June 15, 2009 during the mass arrests that ensued the presidential elections.

Atefeh Nabavi was arrested along with her cousin Ziaeddin Nabavi and six of their other friends at her residence. She was transferred to ward 209 at Evin prison where she spent 95 days under severe physical and psychological pressure in solitary confinement. She was then transferred to the Methadone Ward, a quarantine ward for female prisoners. The Methadone ward is generally used for dangerous criminals, including drug addicts. It consists of a closed hall no larger than 30 to 35 meters. Prisoners held in the Methadone ward are only provided access to fresh air for less than one hour a day. They are also deprived from books and using the prison library and banned from telephone privileges. The prisoners are deprived of in-person visitation with their families, visiting with them from behind a booth. Nabavi was eventually transferred to the Women’s General Ward at Evin Prison.

In December 2009, Branch 12 of Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Atefeh Nabavi to four years in prison on charges of "contact with the Mojahedine Khalgh Organization (MEK)" and "participation in the protests of June 15, 2009." The activities of Atefeh Nabavi's relatives abroad were the cause of the charges brought against her. Nabavi’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotudeh, made the following statement regarding this matter: "In Atefeh’s case, it is apparent that the interrogations she endured and the charges filed against her were mainly due to her family associations. Most of the questions she was asked during her interrogations were regarding her uncle’s activities abroad. In addition, there are no confessions in Atefeh’s case file. Trying and charging a person based on family relations is in contradiction to the principle of 'crime and punishment' present in international laws....The only charge based on which my client can be taken to court is participation in the June 15 demonstrations in which nearly four million other people came out and protested, and based on Article 27 of the Constitution, it was not an illegal assembly by any means."

On May 23, 2010, Nabavi was summoned to Evin Prison Court in order to finalize her case file. A day later, on May 24, a couple of days after the execution of her cellmate Shirin Alam Hooli, she was once again transferred from the General Ward to the Intelligence Ministry's Ward 209 at Evin Prison for further interrogations.

Atefeh Nabavi's husband, Ali Nabavi, is also in prison in Semnan since February 13, 2011, serving a one year prison term which will be followed with one year in exile on similar charges. The couple were able to see each other once in the Summer of 2011, when Ali Nabavi was given a few days' furlough. Atefeh Nabavi has not been allowed any furlough since her arrest. See this letter she wrote in prison on the occasion of her 30th birthday on September 10, 2011.