Narges Mohammadi marked the beginning of the sixth year of her imprisonment by sending an open letter from the Central Prison of Zanjan.
In her letter in April 2020 from Zanjan Prison, Narges Mohammadi writes about female inmates who are victims of patriarchal laws.
“I begin another year of my oppressive prison sentence. Sharing the suffering of the victims of poverty, corruption, despotism, and the rule of patriarchal laws, I am spending my time in prison among my sisters. I stepped into this path to defend the rights of these women. I am serving my sentence beside people whose poverty and hunger compelled me to protest.
“The judicial and intelligence authorities have even banned giving me books. I wished to have a book on my birthday. Alas! My gift this year was sitting face to face with victims whose fate puts me in great pain. Learning of the fate of a woman who had to steal a maize snack to feed her hungry child, a woman who prostituted to avoid sleeping in the street at nights, and the fate of women whose being deprived of the right to divorce has led them to the gallows and to the stoning pit.
“Witnessing their pain and suffering, their destitute life and their deaths, has brought about a new birth for me.
“In this cold and difficult place, I stand tall, heartbroken but happy, and I am beginning another year of my oppressive imprisonment. This life, however difficult, gives me confidence and faith that struggling for justice, freedom and human rights is worth losing whatever I had and even losing the chance to hear the childish voices of my Ali and Kiana.”
Fatemeh Mosanna another political prisoner was arrested on May 6, 2020, by prosecutors and transferred to Evin Prison to complete her sentence Despite Coronavirus Pandemic. She had been released on bail from the Evin Prison women’s ward on March 31, 2020.
On January 28, 2013, Fatemeh Mosanna and her husband Hassan Sadeghi were arrested with their two children, because they had held a funeral service for Hassan Sadeghi’s father, who was a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK Iran).
At the time of the arrest, the authorities sealed Ms. Mosanna’s and Mr. Sadeghi’s house. Their daughter was released from prison after three days, and their son, a minor, was released after about a month and a half of interrogation.
Fatemeh Mosanna was held in solitary confinement in Ward 209 of Evin Prison for about five months. After a year of detention and interrogation, she was released on bail, pending trial.
The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Fatemeh and her husband to 15 years in prison each. Fatemeh Mosanna was arrested on September 30, 2015, and transferred to Evin Prison.
Amid coronavirus crisis, the regime transfers women political prisoners to Qarchak to impose greater pressure on them
Political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee sent out a letter from Qarchak Prison, revealing that the regime is putting greater pressure on two Kurdish political prisoners by transferring them to this notorious prison.
Ms. Iraee focused in her letter on Zeinab Jalalian who was transferred from Khoy Prison on April 2020 and on Sakineh Parvaneh who has been taken to a mental hospital several times.
In her letter she writes: Zeinab Jalalian is one of the longest-detained political prisoners in Iran. After spending years in various detention centers and prisons, and after enduring tremendous torture, she has been recently relocated from the Prison of Khoy, which is close to the place of residence of her family, to the Qarchak Prison in Varamin where she is facing renewed pressure from intelligence agents.
Zeinab Jalalian has resisted against all the threats and harassments over her long prison years, not giving up on the pressures dictating confessions to her. This untimely transfer after years of incarceration, as well as the transfer of another Kurdish political prisoner, Sakineh Parvaneh, who has endured heavy pressure in recent months in the Qarchak Prison in Varamin have been carried out to exert more pressure on them.
Since being transferred to Qarchak Prison, Sakineh Parvaneh has been taken to the Aminabad Mental Hospital several times where she has been further pressured and brutalized. All this indicates violations of human rights.
Zeinab Jalalian is not only a person or just a prisoner. She is the meaning of struggle… She is the teacher of the alphabets of freedom-loving. She is the meaning of Resistance…
