Narges Mohammadi, the Defenders of Human Rights Center spokeswoman, who has recently been sentenced to eight years and two months imprisonment and other additional sentences in Qarchak prison in Varamin, wrote in a letter that “I do not recognize the court’s verdict.”
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Narges Mohammadi, a spokeswoman for the Defenders of Human Rights Center and a prisoner in Qarchak prison in Varamin, wrote in a letter: “I do not accept the verdicts against me and I do not recognize them.”
The full text of this letter, a copy of which has been provided to the campaign, is as follows:
“During the 64 days that I was in cell 209, a case was opened against me. The case was hastily reviewed, tried and sentenced, which is completely illegal, inhuman and immoral act that is against the law and regulations.
Twelve hours after entering solitary confinement in ward 209, I was notified in writing of eighty lashes and 30 months imprisonment by the order of the head of the prosecutor, Mr. Nasirpour. On November 22, 2021, I was charged in a new case in Branch 2 of the Holy Court by investigator Mahmoud Haji Moradi.
On December 24th, 2021, without any explanation or information, I was taken to the same branch for the last defense, and of course, I did not make any defense and asked for a lawyer. Of course, from the moment of my arrest on November 16th, 2021, I wrote a letter in the presence of investigator Alireza Hosseini requesting to contact and meet with a lawyer, which they did not agree with.
Finally, without access to a lawyer and while I was banned from visiting and deprived of a telephone call for forty days, the case was designed and processed hastily. On January 12th, 2022, while I was left in my cell, according to the Ministry of Intelligence, I was not interrogated and was taken to Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court for trial.
[In the courtroom] While surrounded by Ministry of Intelligence agents, I was tried within five minutes without studying the case and the presence of a lawyer. I declared that I have no defense in this court. The court’s verdict was announced two days later, on January 15th, 2022. I wrote that I would not appeal and submit to the verdict, and I would not recognize it.
According to the verdict in this case, I was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison, 74 lashes, a ban on staying in Tehran, a ban on membership in socio-political groups, banning any media on social networks and even telecommunications, and confiscating my mobile phone. The investigation of this case lacked legal legitimacy and was a dishonest and cruel project that was carried out in secret during my imprisonment in a security cell with the intention of cutting off my voice from society and completely depriving me of the right to defend and protest.
What makes clear the bias and baselessness of the allegations and the verdict in this case is that I was found guilty of being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Amnesty International. This charge was not only announced by the representative of the Ministry of Intelligence in ward 209 and called it a foreign conspiracy against the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also emphasized in an explicit and unjustifiable action in the first line of the second page of the verdict issued by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court.
My question to the head of the judiciary and the executive is whether Amnesty International Norway’s announcement that I was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its peaceful and human rights activities was an act against the security of the system and deserved 8 years in prison, 74 lashes, 64 of which I was imprisoned and left alone in cells of the security ward.
At the end, My note to the peace and human rights institutions of the world, including Amnesty International and the European Parliament, is that this vote reflects the clear position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the suppression of peace activists not only in Iran but in the world and the world should not ignore this naked repression of peace activists.”
Narges Mohammadi / Monday, January 24th, 2022 / Qarchak Varamin Prison
Ms. Mohammadi was recently sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to eight years in prison, 74 lashes, two years in exile, and other social deprivations. The human rights activist was arrested by security forces in Karaj in November 2021 and was transferred to Qarchak Varamin Prison last week after being held in solitary confinement in the Ministry of Intelligence’s Ward 209 ward.