Iran: authorities must quash retaliatory sentences against Narges Mohammadi and release her immediately

Narges Mohammadi, drawing by Maxine Young

11 August: PEN International strongly condemns the additional one-year retaliatory sentence against imprisoned writer and prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, handed down by an Iranian court last week. According to her family, the latest sentence increases Mohammadi’s total sentence to ten years, nine months imprisonment and 154 lashes. PEN International is deeply concerned of further retaliatory convictions as Iranian authorities have initiated several other investigations into Mohammadi’s activism and writings in prison since January 2023.

PEN International considers Narges Mohammadi’s arbitrary arrest and imprisonment to be an effort to deny her right to freedom of expression, and calls for her immediate and unconditional release and for her sentence to be quashed, and accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.

Since January 2023, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has brought several charges against Mohammadi in retaliation for her activism while incarcerated, including her protesting against the government’s brutal response to protests and for speaking up against the rise in executions and violence against women in detention facilities. Between January and June 2023, Iranian authorities initiated five new investigations into Mohammadi’s activism in prison. Authorities opened investigations into trumped-up charges on January 7th  and 25th, April 13th, May 16th, and June 18th 2023.

The recent sentence stemmed from Mohammadi’s writings from Evin Prison in January 2023 about violations against women in prisons and detention facilities in Iran on social media. She was convicted of "propaganda against the regime" following an unfair trial. Her family expressed concerns that she might face further convictions over the coming months due to the series of investigations the authorities initiated since January.

Background

Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian writer, journalist, human rights defender, and Honorary Member of the Danish, Belgian, Norwegian, and Swedish PEN centres. She is the former Vice-President and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which advocates for human rights reform and represents political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in legal proceedings. Mohammadi also received the 2013 Oxfam Novib / PEN Award. She was arrested on several occasions over the past years and has spent prolonged periods in arbitrary imprisonment.

In May 2021, Narges Mohammadi was handed a new sentence of 30 months in prison and 80 lashes, just months after she was released in October 2020 after serving five and a half years in prison. Her conviction stemmed from several trumped-up charges, including “propaganda against the regime”, “defamation”, and “rebellious conduct while incarcerated”. Mohammadi believes that the conviction against her was in retaliation over a complaint she made against the director of Evin Prison. She was arbitrarily arrested on 16 November 2021 while attending a memorial service in Karaj City for Ebrahim Ketabdars, who was shot and killed by security forces during a protest in November 2019.

For more information on Narges Mohammadi’s case history, please click here.

 For more information, please contact Mina Thabet, Head of the MENA Region, email: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org