Narges Mohammadi and the Responsibilities of the Judiciary

A group of national-religious women expressed concern in a letter to Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, regarding the health condition of Narges Mohammadi in Evin prison. According to the website Kalameh, Zahra Sahabi, Tahereh Taleghani, Minou Mortazavi Langaroudi, and several others wrote that Ms. Mohammadi is one of the imprisoned mothers with a history of incarceration, and the prison environment has exacerbated her illness. The signatories urged the head of the judiciary to take immediate action to prevent any potential danger to her life by facilitating her release and treatment. The reality is that it has not been long since the publication of Narges Mohammadi's letter, in which she spoke about the difficult conditions of being away from her children and the treatment by judicial authorities, which sparked significant reactions on social media. Just a few days after the letter was published, Narges Mohammadi's family visited Evin prison for their weekly meeting and discovered that she had been transferred back to prison from the hospital just two hours before the meeting, despite medical advice. Taghi Rahmani, a political activist and Narges Mohammadi's husband, stated, 'This is a chronic illness that prison security officials and judicial authorities are all aware of. Narges developed muscular paralysis in 2009 in Evin prison's Ward 209 of the Ministry of Intelligence. In 2012, her muscular paralysis worsened with seizures in Zanjan prison, leading to a forensic certificate stating she could not endure imprisonment. Last Tuesday, an appointment was made with Dr. Nourbala for her to see a neurologist, but the prosecutor's bizarre excuse that her presence would lead to photos being taken and publicized prevented her transfer. Is this a valid justification? All officials know that this is a serious illness, and Narges needs to be under medical supervision. If she does not receive specialized medical care, her condition will worsen. It is noteworthy that Minister of Intelligence Mr. Alavi promised that such cases would be reviewed again. However, not only has this not happened, but the treatment has also worsened.' But why does the judiciary not pay attention to the health conditions of political prisoners like Narges Mohammadi? Is there any consideration in the laws of the Islamic Republic for the conditions of imprisoned women, and is there any positive discrimination due to their gender? This is a question I ask Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer residing in the United States. Mehrangiz Kar states, 'In executive matters, there are some positive discriminations, for example, if a woman is sentenced to death and is pregnant, they wait until she gives birth and then wait for about two years, I believe, for her to breastfeed her child before executing her. This is called positive discrimination regarding women's physical conditions. However, in terms of illness, there is no difference between men and women. There is a custom or regulation that if the doctors and the judge in prison determine and a consensus arises that the convict cannot endure their sentence, they will release them, and there have been cases in this regard. However, here they impose a condition on the convict who cannot endure their sentence, such as not continuing actions that are considered crimes from the perspective of the Islamic Republic. But in reality, these are not crimes. This means not criticizing a subject, not speaking about your situation, and not discussing what you have witnessed in prison with others. These are limitations that follow any leniency.' The point that Mehrangiz Kar mentions is part of the criticisms that critics of Narges Mohammadi's letter have pointed out, namely that her disregard for existing limitations has led to her return to prison. Asia Amini, a women's rights activist residing in Norway, previously told Radio Farda, 'Perhaps this statement is not very fair. But I sometimes think that those who direct their harsh criticisms towards human rights activists or civil activists... sometimes cover up their own meaningful silence. That is, people who passively and indifferently overlook the most important events of their time and their society do not want others to stand up and protest against those conditions. This has happened to me for years. I can never forget those who repeatedly criticized me for why I was working on the issue of executions. Sit down and raise your child. You see, this 'sit down and raise your child' is an expectation that a passive society has of people like Narges Mohammadi and criticizes her not because she is working to create a better society for them, but because why Narges Mohammadi does not choose the same passivity as them.' Taghi Rahmani also spoke about Narges Mohammadi's activities in the face of the silence of a large segment of society to Radio Farda, saying, 'We are in a period of specific confrontations. We need to see what Narges Mohammadi, Taghi Rahmani, and others have done to deserve this punishment. We have tried to make some social-political efforts by adhering to the minimum laws of a government, or Narges has made human rights efforts. She does not deserve this much suffering and hardship. According to the incomplete Islamic Penal Code of this country, Article 134 should be implemented, and according to this article, Kurdish Sunni prisoners should not be executed. If several hundred or thousands of people raise their voices, perhaps the government cannot imprison individuals due to this protest. If the number of peaceful protesters increases, the same thing will happen. A recent example is the protests of teachers. This time when they protested, they were not arrested. If they had been fewer, they would have definitely been arrested. This issue must be taken into account.' Despite all this, Narges Mohammadi is currently in prison with new charges and an old illness, where, according to Mehrangiz Kar, the responsibility for her life lies with the prison organization: 'In general, the responsibility for the health and provision of medical facilities for prisoners lies with the prison organization. However, I myself was imprisoned for a short time, and unfortunately, this responsibility is not taken seriously, and often what they do is give tranquilizers to the patient and consider all the patient's issues and problems as stemming from prison anxiety, thinking that when this prisoner sleeps, the problems of the prison guards will also decrease, and they do not take fundamental actions. Or if they take them to the prison clinic, this clinic does not have the necessary and adequate equipment for some serious illnesses. Unfortunately, the prison organization does not pay attention to these commitments, and later, when the family's insistence on a case arises, if they agree, they still say you have to pay the costs. While the prisoner from the moment they enter prison should have all their expenses covered by the prison organization, especially their medical expenses. They have a responsibility, but they do not pay attention to this responsibility, and so far we have had many deaths in prison, some due to torture, some due to hunger strikes, where they did not reach someone who had gone on a hunger strike, and as a result, they lost their life. In any case, this government is not accountable and completely shirks its responsibilities.