Iran human rights activist Narges Mohammadi suffers violence from prison authorities, lawyer says News
Voice Of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Iran human rights activist Narges Mohammadi suffers violence from prison authorities, lawyer says

Iran prison guards at Tehran’s Evin Prison caused a chest injury to Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent Iranian human rights activist, after she led a protest against the upcoming death penalties of 30 political prisoners, according to her lawyer Mostafa Nili and Women Press Freedom on Thursday. According to her latest update, the authorities denied hospital care ordered by a prison doctor and her request to meet a forensic doctor to record her injury.

Mohammadi, 52, who has been jailed since November 2021, and other female prisoners staged a protest in the prison yard against the planned execution of 30 political prisoners including Reza Rasaei, a Kurdish man arrested during the 2022 protests. The protest escalated into violence when guards from the Ministry of Intelligence, accompanied by anti-riot prison guards, attempted to suppress the chanting. Mohammadi and several other women were brutally beaten and pushed back into their cells.

Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris, reported that his wife suffered severe injuries during the attack, including blows to her chest that caused severe breathing difficulties, leading her cellmates to fear she was experiencing cardiac arrest. Despite the prison doctor’s recommendation that she be transferred to a hospital, Mohammadi was only treated in the prison clinic and was denied further medical care.

This violent crackdown comes amid a wave of executions in Iran, which saw 29 prisoners executed over two days, including Rasaei. The United Nations and various human rights organizations have expressed alarm over the escalating use of the death penalty in Iran, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calling the number of executions in such a short time “alarming.”

Iranian authorities denied any wrongdoing, blaming Mohammadi for instigating the confrontation. The prison administration issued a statement denying that any physical abuse occurred, asserting that Mohammadi and the other inmates had peacefully returned to their cells.

For nine months, Mohammadi has been denied the right to make phone calls or receive visits from her family and lawyer. This latest incident has further exacerbated concerns about her deteriorating health. In addition to the recent injuries, Mohammadi has been suffering from acute back and knee pain, as well as a blocked coronary artery, for which she underwent surgery in 2021.

In June, a group of individual experts, including Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Javaid Rehman, called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammadi, accusing Iran of derogating her right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly with unfair proceedings and lengthy sentences.

Mohammadi is serving multiple sentences, totalling imprisonment of more than 13 years. These charges include several charges of “propaganda activities against the state” in relation to her human rights activism in prison against sexual offenses committed by prison officials. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that her detention is arbitrary.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Justice Department brings anit-trust action against AT&T

On November 20, 1974, the Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. United States v. AT&T was ultimately settled out of court with an agreement that the corporation would break up its monopoly on phone service throughout the country.

Nuremberg war crimes trials began

On November 20, 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.

Winston Churchill born

On November 20, 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in Woodstock, England. He would go on to lead the United Kingdom as Prime Minister through World War II. Toward the end of the war, Churchill worked with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to craft the treaties and accords that have defined the world since WWII. A 2002 poll by the BBC declared Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

New Jersey ratifies Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 fundamental amendments to the US Constitution, on November 20, 1789, becoming the first state to do so. The state also ratified an amendment on federal representation which ultimately failed. Additionally, New Jersey rejected an amendment on congressional salaries, which would eventually become the 27th Amendment more than 200 years later. Read the articles ratified by New Jersey.