Narges Mohammadi to Human Rights Organizations: Do Not Remain Silent Against the Suppression of Civil Society

Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center, has urged international human rights organizations to assist Iran's civil society and to call on governments and international bodies not to remain silent against the "suppression of civil institutions and the arrest and torture of activists in this field." In her letter published on Saturday, December 11, on the Human Rights Defenders Center's website, she reminded that Iran's civil society is among the communities "subject to violent repression" by the government, although civil society activists have stood against this suppression with peaceful civil behavior. While serving her six-year prison sentence, Mohammadi was recently sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison in a separate case, of which 10 years will be enforced. The imprisoned vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center pointed out that she has been active in 10 independent civil institutions since 1992, all of which have been "destroyed." According to Mohammadi, the Association of Journalists, the Human Rights Defenders Center, the Prisoners' Rights Defense Association, the National Peace Council, the Writers' Association, the Participation Front, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, the Freedom Movement of Iran, the National-Religious Coalition, the Teachers' Association, the Workers' Syndicate, the Office for Consolidating Unity (students), the Organization of Graduates of the Office for Consolidating Unity, the Women's Cultural Center, and the One Million Signatures Campaign for Changing Women's Laws are among the parties and civil institutions that have faced "intense pressure," have paid "heavy costs," and "the government has prevented their continued activities through security and illegal means." After the 2009 presidential elections, some parties and civil society organizations in Iran were declared illegal by the judiciary, and their members were sentenced to long prison terms. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Defenders Center, in a letter to Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in March 2010, requested her to prevent the "destruction" of Iran's civil society. This center emphasized that security, political, and judicial actions against civil institutions during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first government were severe and complete, with security agencies "exploiting" the situation created in 2009 to suppress civil institutions. In her letter, the imprisoned vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center deemed it "necessary and essential" for international organizations to monitor the necessity of respecting human rights in Iran, adding, "It should not be overlooked that alongside this, the existence of a human rights guarantee approach through the institutionalization of participatory and independent popular institutions in society is very vital." Mohammadi called on international human rights activists and organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, PEN International, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to examine the status of civil institutions in Iran and assist Iran's civil society. She also urged these organizations to ask their governments and international bodies not to remain silent regarding the "suppression of civil institutions in Iran and the arrest and torture of activists in this field" and to demand that the Iranian government end the "suppression and pressure" on civil society institutions and adhere to its own constitution. Mohammadi, while referring to the war and violence in the region due to the "rapid movements of extremists and terrorists," emphasized that "military solutions have reached a dead end" and that "wars and sanctions that target people threaten human rights because they weaken civil society." In June, Mohammadi had also written a letter to the Iranian president, asking him to prevent the continuation of security actions against civil activists. She, who has been arrested multiple times following the protests against the 2009 presidential election, wrote in her letter that in the women's political ward of Evin prison, 32 women have been sentenced to a total of 232 years in prison and have spent at least 169 months in the cells of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards. In recent months, several international and Iranian human rights organizations have called for the release of Narges Mohammadi. 42 student organizations also issued a statement on Friday, December 3, demanding her "unconditional release" and emphasized that the sentence issued against the vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center does not match her "honorable motivation" and "adverse conditions." Earlier, several members of the Iranian parliament sent a letter to the head of the judiciary on Sunday, October 16, pointing out the errors in the sentence issued for the imprisoned vice president of the Human Rights Defenders Center and, citing Article 477 of the Criminal Procedure Code, requested the annulment of Mohammadi's sentence and a re-examination of her case in an equivalent branch. In response to this request, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the first deputy of the judiciary, announced that Islamic clemency in this case "does not make sense" and that parliament members do not have the legal authority to make this request. Nevertheless, 17 parliament members sent another letter, this time to the Attorney General, asking for explanations from the judiciary regarding Narges Mohammadi's 16-year sentence. Mohammadi also requested on November 25 that the Attorney General publish her indictment and defenses. She emphasized, "I am ready for every page of the indictment and my defenses and every moment of my life to be revealed so that we can all be judged by public opinion, and anyone among us who deserves to be rejected should be rejected." Mohammadi also, in another letter to parliament members, while thanking them for their follow-up on her case for reconsideration, requested that her case be addressed in the Parliament's Article 90 Commission.