Narges Mohammadi Hospitalized in Prison

Imprisoned human rights lawyer Narges Mohammadi, who was injured by other prisoners in a fight, has not been allowed to see her family, her husband Taghi Rahmani told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in an interview.

“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, adding that her recent medical problems have made her family extremely concerned.

On April 22, 2012, security forces transferred Narges Mohammadi, human rights activist and Deputy Director of Defenders of Human Rights Center, from her parents’ home in Zanjan to Tehran to begin serving her six-year prison term. On June 11, 2012, she was transferred to Zanjan Prison 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.

“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 June 24, Mohammadi wrote a letter to Tehran’s Prosecutor, objecting 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.

Taghi Rahmani told the Campaign that security is very heavy in Zanjan hospital: “Narges’ family goes to the hospital everyday and requests 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.”

Narges Mohammadi was charged with “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.

“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.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran