Iranian of the Day

ICHRI:  In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Taghi Rahmani, husband of imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi said that he has heard news about his wife's hospitalization that coupled with the authorities' refusal to provide any information about his wife, lead him to be seriously concerned about his wife's health.  "We heard that Narges' cellmates got into a fight and ran into Narges.  Narges took a fall and had to be transferred to the hospital.  Eleven days after her transfer to hospital, Narges has not had any contact with the outside world.  Her family have not been allowed any contact or visits with her. Narges must be under circumstances that keep her from contacting her two very young children," Rahmani told the Campaign.

Taghi Rahmani told the Campaign that there is very heavy security presence in the Zanjan hospital.  "Narges' family go to the hospital everyday and request a visit, but they are not allowed to see her.  They are not even allowed to talk to the doctors at the hospital.  There is a severe security atmosphere at the prison.  There is a female guard in her room and there is a male guard outside.  It is our right to find out what has happened to Narges," he added.

"Narges' illness is muscle paralysis, but they first transferred her to Zanjan Hospital's Neurology Department.  Two days ago, they transferred her to another hospital, to Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Zanjan, where she has been hospitalized in their Neurology Department.  These are all sources of concern for us," said Mohammadi's husband.  "We demand that Narges be allowed to have visitors and for her to be examined by her own physicians who are knowledgeable about her illness.  She has not talked to her children in 11 days. She must be under special circumstances where she cannot talk.  We have questions about this and ask the authorities to reply," said Taghi Rahmani.

On 22 April, security forces transferred Narges Mohammadi, human rights activist and Deputy Director of Center for Human Rights Defenders, from her parents’ home in Zanjan to Tehran to commence serving her six year prison term on charges of "assembly and collusion against national security, "membership in the Center for Human Rights Defenders," and "propaganda against the regime."  Against legal procedures, instead of taking her to the General Ward of Evin Prison, Mohammadi was transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209. She was transferred to the Zanjan Prison on 11 June for unknown reasons.  Zanjan Prison does not have a separate ward for political prisoners and Mohammadi is the only female political prisoner in the facility.

In a June 24 letter to Tehran Prosecutor, Narges Mohammadi objected to her prison conditions.  "After my latest imprisonment, even the number of pills I am taking cannot control my illness, and it has worsened.  I am now in the middle of more than 50 women who have been convicted of murder, drug traffickers who are on death row, and inmates who have committed violent crimes, some of whom suffer from dangerous diseases, and some do not have psychological balance.  Since I arrived this ward, I have seen nothing but stress, anxiety, and fear, all of which have contributed to the worsening of my illness.  Exposure to such levels of stress is like feeding me poison, killing me by the moment." Mohammadi wrote. (Source)

"At Zanjan Prison's Women's Ward, inmates constantly engage in fights and they attack each other with razors and other objects.  When this happens, the prison guards take Narges out of the ward and return her when the fighting is over," Mohammadi's husband told the Campaign. (Source)