Free women's human rights defender Narges Mohammadi

In 2016 the Iranian government sentenced Narges Mohammadi to 16 years in prison because she campaigned for women’s rights and against the death penalty. 

Now, in prisons across Iran, there have been confirmed cases of COVID-19. This raises grave fears that prisoners like Narges are at risk of contracting the virus. Prisoners are at particular risk because they are unable to take the same social distancing and hygiene measures as those outside of prison to protect themselves.

Narges’ health is failing and she suffers from a blood clot in her lungs and a neurological disorder, putting her at heightened risk if she contracts COVID-19.

Across Iran, prisoners have pleaded with officials to address overcrowded, unhygienic and unsanitary conditions that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 infections, raising alarms about the authorities’ failure to sufficiently protect prison populations from the spread of the virus. Some prisoners have been denied adequate medical care, leaving them at greater risk from the virus if contracted.

If we apply enough pressure we can push the government to release Narges. We need to again show Iran that the world is watching, and that we won’t stay silent in the face of injustice. 

Call for Narges’ immediate release, so she can have her freedom and the medical care that she desperately needs.

Narges Mohammadi has consistently received degrading and inhumane treatment from prison officials. Suffering from serious medical conditional, she requires specialized medical care that cannot be provided in prison. Despite doctors’ recommendations that she remain in hospital for treatment, she has continuously been transferred back to prison, putting her health further at risk. 

Authorities have consistently used access to her nine-year-old twins as a tool to punish her, denying her telephone contact. She undertook a hunger strike to protest the authority’s refusal to let her speak with her children. Her hunger strike triggered global outrage and thousands of people, including more than 100,000 Iranians, posted messages in solidarity through a Twitter campaign. After 20 days and extensive global campaigning, Narges was able to speak with her children. She wrote an open letter, expressing heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported her cause and highlighting the plight of political prisoners in Iran.

“I[‘ve] received beautiful, kind and heart-warming messages from friends, compatriots, fellow prisoners, my dear colleagues from inside and outside the country, and human rights organizations […] With all my heart and soul, I thank each and every single dear person who, through their writings and comments and following up [of my case], resulted in the voice of my protest being heard.”

This cruel punishment for her "crimes" reflects the Iranian authorities' recently intensified repression of women’s rights activists in the country. Since January 2016 more than a dozen women’s rights activists in Tehran have been summoned for long, intensive interrogations by the Revolutionary Guards, and threatened with imprisonment on national security-related charges.

Narges Mohammadi’s protest has been heard – but she is still in prison, facing a 16-year-sentence following an unfair trial. She is a prisoner of conscience, targeted because of her human rights work. Call on Iranian authorities to release Narges immediately and unconditionally!