Narges Mohammadi: I Will Not Appeal My 10-Year Prison Sentence

Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned vice president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, announced that she will not appeal her 10-year prison sentence as a protest against the 'violent behavior' of security institutions towards political and civil activists and the 'continuation of the security atmosphere and the era of past repression.' Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize-winning women issued a statement calling for the 'immediate and unconditional' release of Ms. Mohammadi and urged the Iranian authorities to 'end the prosecution of human rights defenders.' In a letter published on Sunday, June 9, on the website of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, Mohammadi stated that she will not appeal her prison sentence to protest against 'violent behavior and insistence on continuing the security atmosphere of the past repression by security institutions and the issuance of heavy judicial sentences against civil and political activists.' In this letter, she mentioned 'the issuance of unfair and unjust sentences,' 'complete disregard by the court for the defenses of the accused and lawyers,' 'holding the trial in a non-public manner and behind closed doors, away from public judgment and awareness,' 'the absence of a jury, and most importantly, the courts' efforts to impose heavy and maximum penalties on civil activists to suppress civil society in the Revolutionary Court, which lacks the jurisdiction to handle political crimes and is illegal,' as other reasons for her decision not to appeal her sentence. The imprisoned vice president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders also wrote that the sentences issued against civil and political activists are 'certainly not based on legal principles but rather on the orders and approaches of security institutions aimed at repression, intimidation, and creating fear and despair in society.' Narges Mohammadi, a lawyer and human rights activist, is currently serving a six-year prison term and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison in a non-public trial on charges of 'collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime against national security,' 'propaganda against the regime,' and 'forming and managing an illegal group called Legam.' However, the court ruling specified that due to existing regulations regarding the accumulation of sentences, Ms. Mohammadi received a 10-year prison sentence. Reports indicate that one of the reasons for the sentence against Ms. Mohammadi was her meeting with Catherine Ashton, the then High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, in 2013. In her letter, Ms. Mohammadi wrote that her indictment and ruling 'exactly' included the statement 'Narges Mohammadi insists on achieving a civil society in her interviews and in her meeting with Catherine Ashton,' and this action was recognized as a clear crime. Narges Mohammadi received a travel ban notice on April 29, 2014, after meeting with the then High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs. Catherine Ashton met with several women's rights activists in Iran, including Narges Mohammadi and Gohar Eshghi, the mother of Sattar Beheshti, at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran on March 8, 2014, on the occasion of International Women's Day. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights protested against the 10-year prison sentence for Narges Mohammadi, calling for her immediate release, and Samantha Power, the US representative at the UN, described the sentence issued against Ms. Mohammadi as 'unjust.' Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize-winning women issued a statement calling for the 'immediate and unconditional' release of Narges Mohammadi and urged Iran to 'end the prosecution of human rights defenders.' The statement emphasized that 'Narges Mohammadi's peaceful activities are based on international human rights laws and conventions to which the Iranian government has acceded. Therefore, her imprisonment is unjust and illegal.' The Nobel Women’s Initiative, co-founded by Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, was established in 2006 with the goal of supporting peace, justice, and equality worldwide.