An award-winning human rights campaigner serving a 10-year jail sentence in Iran’s notorious Evin prison has been given a new 15-month sentence after she was accused of inciting protests.
Narges Mohammadi, 50 – who has a neurological disorder that can cause paralysis – was tried while she was in her cell without a lawyer present at the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
She had also been sentenced to three months of garbage collection when she is eventually released, said local media reports from 18th October.
The campaigner was first imprisoned in 1998 and spent a year in jail before she was released due to health concerns.
A vocal critic of the political regime in Iran, Narges was rearrested in 2011 and released a year later after her imprisonment caused an international outcry.
Amnesty International named her as a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate release.
Narges was arrested once more in 2015 and rereleased five years later after a hunger strike and battling through Covid, according to reports.
Amnesty International then reported that the human rights activist was arrested again on 16th November 2021, at a memorial service for a victim of Iran’s security forces.
Narges was then charged with propaganda against the state and accused of encouraging people to take part in nationwide protests.
Narges’ husband Tagmi Rahmani told how he has not seen his wife for more than 10 years.
In a tweet sent out on behalf of his imprisoned wife, he quoted her saying: “I do not recognize the court as official.
“I did not participate in it, and my lawyer was denied access to the file.
“I supported the people’s right to protest and to be in the street to protest against the government.”
Rahmani – who lives in Paris – went on to tell how his wife has not seen her 16-year-old twins for almost seven years.
Prison authorities have even confiscated her prisoner phone cards for two months,
He added: “The system of prisons in Iran is torturing families.
“It is not just torture for the prisoner but for the entire family.
“The children have not heard Narges’ voice for the last seven months.”
The Swedish government awarded Narges, who is the Deputy Director of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran, with the Per Anger Prize in 2011.
This was after she campaigned against the death penalty while fighting for human rights in Iran, according to reports.
