Narges Mohammadi's Family Claims She is Charged with 'Collaboration with ISIS'

The family of Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist, claims that she has been faced with new charges from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, including the accusation of collaborating with the 'Islamic State' (formerly ISIS). According to a report published on Tuesday, July 6, on the website of the 'Human Rights Advocates Center', the family informed this center and stated that the Ministry of Intelligence has requested the 'harshest punishment' for her. The Human Rights Advocates Center, managed by Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is based in the UK. The family of Narges Mohammadi stated in an interview with this center that the likely reason for such an accusation is Ms. Mohammadi's opposition to the execution of several Sunni prisoners and her 'request for fairness and justice in their trials from judicial authorities.' Hamidreza Mohammadi, Narges Mohammadi's brother, told the 'Human Rights Advocates Center' that the court session scheduled for Tuesday, which was to be presided over by Judge Salavati, was held without any explanation. Previously, charges of 'collusion and conspiracy against national security', 'propaganda against the regime', and launching a campaign for the 'gradual abolition of the death penalty' had been announced against Narges Mohammadi. On July 8, 650 social, cultural, and political activists and academic figures issued a statement calling for Narges Mohammadi's release from prison before her trial. Two days later, Taghi Rahmani, Narges Mohammadi's husband, told Radio Farda that Ms. Mohammadi's lawyers have not been able to fully study her case, and she has also not had access to a lawyer. Ms. Mohammadi was arrested at her home on May 4 of this year, just two days after her trial was postponed in Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Narges Mohammadi, who has received human rights and democracy awards from 'Ernst Langer' and 'the Government and Foundation of Living History of Sweden', has been summoned and interrogated several times in recent years. In 2011, she was initially charged with 'collusion and conspiracy against national security', 'propaganda against the regime', and 'membership in the Human Rights Defenders Center', receiving an 11-year prison sentence, which was later reduced to six years in March of the same year. In an interview with Radio Farda, she described the charges against her as baseless. In 2012, she was transferred to Evin Prison and then to Zanjan Prison to serve her sentence, but due to illness, she was released on bail of 600 million tomans in August 2012.