Leili Khatami, a children and women’s rights activist, who was hosting plays, group therapy, and storytelling events for children in earthquake-affected areas in Kermanshah and deprived areas of Zahedan, was arrested by security guards in Zahedan on November 10th, 2018 for charges of “espionage”.
Mones Khatami, Leili Khatami’s sister, said in a conversation with Shaheed Alavi, a journalist: “My sister went to Zahedan for a week and was arrested by security forces on her last day of stay at her friend’s house and was transferred to Tehran.
‘As far as I know, my sister faces espionage charges and I do not know any more information about it. During this time, my father managed to see her twice and I had a call from her once.”
She continues about Leili Khatami’s whereabouts: “As far as we know, it seems she is in Tehran, but we do not know why she was transferred there and we still have not succeeded in getting her a lawyer.
‘My sister usually worked alone, and her work was more related to unprotected and poor children in remote areas and villages, Kermanshah, Sistan and Baluchestan, Mazandaran, and Gilan. She always planned to go to the most deprived areas of the country to create some hope for these children. She was not involved in any political activity.”
At the end, said Ms. Khatami: “My sister has never been arrested and the news was completely unexpected for us. My sister had no confidential activities, and even the villages she was visiting were known. When she was in Kermanshah in the earthquake-affected areas, she lived in difficult conditions, living in the tent, and she was trying her best to children present their talent and themselves.”