In response to the arbitrary arrest of prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi on November 16, 2021 in Karaj, Alborz province, while attending a memorial for Ebrahim Ketabdar, who was killed by the forces security officials during nationwide protests in November 2019, Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa said:

“Narges Mohammadi is a prisoner of conscience targeted solely for her peaceful human rights activities and is now at risk of receiving 80 lashes. We call on the Iranian authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally, to cancel her unjust sentence and to ensure that she is protected from all forms of torture and other ill-treatment, including flogging.

“Arrest a human rights defender for calling for truth and justice on the second anniversary of the November 2019 protests, in which hundreds of men, women and children were killed by the Iranian security forces, is a ruthless act – and another reminder of the crisis of systemic impunity in Iran for crimes under international law.

“For too long, the Iranian authorities have subjected Narges Mohammadi to arbitrary detention, unfair prosecution, torture and other ill-treatment for his human rights work. Amnesty International urges the international community, including the United Nations and the European Union, to speak out on his case and to highlight the rampant crackdown on Iranian human rights defenders. “

Background

Narges Mohammadi is vice-president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran and has worked with the Campaign for the Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty (known as Legam, its Persian acronym). Following the nationwide protests in November 2019 and the unlawful killing of hundreds of protesters, Narges Mohammadi verbally supported grieving family members seeking truth and justice for the murders of their loved ones.

In May 2021, Chamber 1188 of Tehran Criminal Court No.2 sentenced Narges Mohammadi to two and a half years in prison, 80 lashes and two separate fines on charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” . Four months later, in September, Narges Mohammadi received a summons to start serving this sentence, but she did not respond as she considered the sentence unfair.

She was arbitrarily arrested on November 16, 2021 by agents from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence who her husband said brutally beat Narges Mohammadi before taking her to an unknown location. The next day, she called her family and informed them that she was in Evin Prison in Tehran and told them that she had to serve a sentence of two and a half years in prison.

Narges Mohammadi was also arbitrarily arrested in May 2015 and sentenced in 2016 to 16 years in prison on charges solely related to her freedom of expression and assembly.

Following global action, including by Amnesty International, Narges Mohammadi was released from prison in October 2020, but since then Iranian authorities have repeatedly subjected her to acts of harassment, torture and harassment. other ill-treatment.

Flogging as practiced in Iran invariably constitutes torture, which is a crime under international law and absolutely prohibited under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Iran is gone.