Open Letter to UN Secretary General on Women Prisoners in Iran

 

Open Letter to His Excellency Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of The United Nations, about the situation of woman prisoners of conscience in Iran and the urgent need to release and save them from COVID-19

 

Copies:

 

Your Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres,

 

We, the families, friends and lawyers of prisoners along with other prominent concerned individuals declare our high concern about the health conditions of the female prisonsoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran under the epidemic of coronavirus and the disregard of the public authorities despite the many serious alarming reports by the independent international organizations.

On March 10, 2020, Mr. Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran announced in a press conference that he had asked Islamic Republic of Iran to free all political prisoners temporarily from its overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help stem the spread of coronavirus. (1)

On March 26, 2020, Amnesty International issued an urgent action directed to the Head of Judiciary of Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi demanding that ” The Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release hundreds of prisoners of conscience amid grave fears over the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iran’s prisons. The authorities should take measures to protect the health of all prisoners and urgently consider releasing pre-trial detainees and those who may be at particular risk of severe illness or death.” (2)  

On April 17, 2020, 10 UN Human Rights Experts called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to expand its temporary release of thousands of detainees to prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals still being held despite serious risk of COVID-19 infection. The experts commended the reported but temporary release of unconfirmed 100,000 prisoners since a 26 February 2020 order by the head of judiciary, which included few prisoners of conscience and dual and foreign nationals. However, they stated that most prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, conservationists and dual and foreign nationals remain imprisoned. “Some are at great risk from COVID-19 due to their age or underlying health conditions.” They called ”on the authorities to immediately release them.” and to also ”expedite the independent and impartial review of all cases of suspected arbitrary detention and to immediately and permanently release all individuals found to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty,” (3)

On April 22, 2020. twenty-two human rights organizations that monitor Iran, listed 50 female prisoners of Conscience and called on Islamic Republic of Iran to Free its Imprisoned Female Prisoners of Conscience as Coronavirus Overtakes Prisons”. They reported “These prisoners of conscience are confined to a room with 18 women and sleep on triple bunk beds with little space in between. They are at an even greater risk than the general prison population, as their wellbeing is already often compromised by torture, denial of medical treatment, other ill-treatment and their own hunger strikes.” And therefore urged “governments, non-governmental organizations, journalists, the United Nations and other international organizations to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to immediately release the following known prisoners of conscience, along with any other political prisoners, to save their lives. “(4)

Your Excellency,

 

The concerns of the human rights experts and organizations is unanimous. Therefore we are asking for your special attention to the situations of woman prisoners of conscience in Iran. Their lives are in grave danger(5). Lack of access to the proper medical services, spread of corona virus in overcrowded prisons(6), Islamic Republic’s coverups, denials and mismanagements are the reasons that make it urgent to take action now.

Islamic Republic intentionally does not allow or permit these prisoners to leave the prisons during this unprecedented crisis while allowing the release of many ordinary prisoners; therefore intentionally endangering the lives of those whose only faults have been to express their opinions or doing their jobs. These women are attorneys, educators, writers, mothers, artists, environmentalist etc.

 

We kindly ask for your direct support and call on the leader of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Head of Judiciary, Mr. Ebrahim Raisi to immediately release all female prisoners of conscience including several human rights defenders who are sentenced to long term prison sentences in Iran, as the next step in the right direction.

The harsh conditions of these female prisoners call for urgent actions now. Iranian male political prisoners’ lives are equally in danger and in need of immediate attention. The number and names of prisoners of conscience in Iran is not public, however following is the list of the female political prisoners that we know of and ask for their immediate release along with any other unknown ones:

 Evin Prison:

  1. Nasrin Sotoudeh
  2. Fariba Adelkhah
  3. Kylie Moore-Gilbert
  4. Mojgan Keshavarz
  5. Saba Kord Afshari
  6. Raheleh Ahmadi
  7. Yasaman Aryani
  8. Monireh Arabshahi
  9. Atena Daemi
  10. Niloufar Bayani
  11. Sepideh Kashani
  12. Maryam Akbari Monfared
  13. Samaneh Norouz Moradi
  14. Negin Ghadamian
  15. Rezvaneh Khanbeigi
  16. Elham Barmaki
  17. Maryam Haj Hosseini
  18. Maryam Ebrahimvard
  19. Hengameh Shahidi
  20. Aras Amiri
  21. Sepideh Farhan
  22. Fatemeh Masni

Qarchak Prison

  1. Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi
  2. Leila Mirghafari
  3. Raha Ahmadi
  4. Zohreh Sarv
  5. Fatemeh Khishvand
  6. Sakineh Parvaneh

Other Prisons:

  1. Narges Mohammadi (Zanjan Prison)
  2. Zeinab Jalalian (Khoy Prison)
  3. Fatemeh Sepehri (Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad)
  4. Fatemeh Dadvand (Bukan Prison)
  5. Mojgan Sayami (Ardebil, Central Prison)
  6. Fatemeh Asma Esmaeilzadeh
  7. Enis Saadet
  8. Jaka Esmaeilpour
  9. Sheida Najafian
  10. Samira Hadian
  11. Hajar Ardasr
  12. Hakimeh Ahmadi
  13. Fatemeh Kohanzadeh
  14. Zari Tavakkoli
  15. Gita Hor
  16. Maryam Mokhtari
  17. Saghar Mohammadi
  18. Mojgan Eskandari
  19. Ehteram Sheikhi
  20. Sheida Abedi
  21. Yalda Firouzian
  22. Farideh Jaberi

 

 

‌Most Regards,

 

  1. Hourieh Farajzadeh, Iran, Sister of protester Shahram Farajzadeh, who was trampled by Tehran Police vehicle
  2. Farangis Mazloom , Iran, Mother of Prisoner of conscience Soheil Arabi
  3. Shahnaz Akmali, Tehran, Iran, Prisoner of Conscience
  4. Neda Yousefi, Arak, Iran, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  5. Amineh Ghaderi, Iran, mother of executed Prisoner of Conscience Zaniar Moradi
  6. Sholeh Pakravan, Iran, mother of Reyhaneh Jabari executed
  7. Mojgan Ataalahi, Iran, Author – Architect
  8. Alieh Motalebzadeh, Iran, Women’s Rights Activist, Journalist
  9. Ghazal Abdollahi, Iran, Student of Theater
  10. Aida Omidi, Tehran, Iran, Poet and member of the secretariat of the Writers’ Association of Iran
  11. Mohammad Karim Beigi, Iran, Father of Prisoner of conscience Mostafa Karim Beigi
  12. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Tehran, Iran, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  13. Ahmad Alinejad, Shiraz, Iran, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  14. Taha Salesi, Shiraz, Iran, Prisoner of Conscience
  15. Amir Amirgholi, Tehran, Labor Activist
  16. Yousef Ghaderi, Ilam, Iran, Labor Activist
  17. Sajjad Shokri, Tehran, Labor Activist
  18. Salim Padehban. Chabahar, Iran
  19. Behzad Bahadori, Iran, blogger
  20. Ardavan Tarakmeh, Iran, Filmmaker and Cinema Researcher
  21. Bektash Abtin, Tehran, Iran, Poet and Filmmaker, Member of the Iranian Writers’ Association
  22. Sadra Abdollahi . Iran, Writer and Cinema Director
  23. Hossein Daemi, Iran, Father of Atena Daemi prisoner of conscience
  24. Heshmat Tabarzadi, Tehran, Iran, Former Prisoner of Conscience, Secretary General Iran Democratic Front
  25. Amir Ghazipour, Iran, Poet
  26. Ali Abdollahi, Iran, Poet and translator
  27. Shaparak Shajarizadeh, Toronto, Canada, Women’s Rights Activist
  28. Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Toronto, Canada, Human Rights Activist, Human Rights Sr. Advisor Iran Transition Council
  29. Golaleh Sharafkandi, Stockholm, Sweden, Women’s Rights Secretary Iran Transition Council
  30. Shabnam Shajarizadeh, Los Angeles, USA, Human Rights Activist
  31. Nahid Delnavaz, Netherlands, Human Rights Activist
  32. Shirin Nafe, Germany, Political Activist
  33. Nahid Bahmani, London, UK, Human Rights Activist, Iran Transition Council
  34. Effat Gohari, Dalfgauw, Netherlands, Women’s Rights Activist
  35. Taraneh Abravesh, Hamburg, Germany, Human Rights Activist
  36. Alham Sabetian, Washington D.C., USA, No to Execution Campaign
  37. Samira Jamali, Istanbul, Turkey, Women’s Rights Activist
  38. Shiva Ganji, Texas, USA, Journalist
  39. Mahtab Ghorbani, Paris, France, Human Rights Activist
  40. Hengameh Hoveida, France, Poet, Writer
  41. Farshideh Nasrin, Canada, Writer and Theater Director
  42. Christine Bradin, Paris, France, Prof de Fle, français et culture Générale
  43. Shamila Nejadashmi, Germany, Sales Expert
  44. Ava Erabi, Turkey, Human Rights Activist
  45. Fereshteh Majidi, Switzerland, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  46. Elham Rahimi, Sweden, Human Rights Activist
  47. Simin Sabri, Norway, Psychologist -Human Rights Activist,
  48. Tahereh Sadeghi, Sweden, Human Rights Activist
  49. Parisima Nielsen, Sweden, Political Activist
  50. Tayebeh Sanavi, Vienna, Austria, Women’s Rights Activist
  51. Nahid Hosseini, UK, Researcher Women and Education Studies
  52. Younis Shameli, Sweden, Journalist
  53. Simin Sabri, Norway, Psychologist
  54. Hassan Shariatmadari, Hamburg, Germany, Secretary General of Iran Transition Council
  55. Shahriar Ahi, Spokesperson Iran Transition Council
  56. Mehran Barati, Berlin, Germany, International Relations Secretary of Iran Transition Council
  57. Mohsen Sazegara, Washington D.C., USA, Secretary of Civil Resistance Iran Transition Council
  58. Abdulllah Mohtadi, London, UK, Secretary General of Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Secretary Special Affairs Iran Transition Council
  59. Mohammad Farsi, Newcastle, UK, Iranian Naval Officer, member Iran Transition Council
  60. Fereydoon Khavand, Paris, France, Economist, Sr. Economic Consultant Iran Transition Council
  61. Hossein Alavi, France, Journalist, member Iran Transition Council
  62. David Etebari, Los Angeles, USA, Co-Founder Stop Child Executions, Member Iran Transition Council
  63. Djamchid Assadi, Paris, France, Economist, Iran Transition Council
  64. Ata Hoodshtian, Toronto, Canada, Professor of Political Science and Psychology, Iran Transition Council
  65. Fereydoon Ahmadi, Cologne, Germany, Secretary Strategy and Discourse Iran Transition Council
  66. Karim Shambayati, Germany, Member Iran Transition Council
  67. Yazadan Shohadaie, Germany, VP Iran Transition Council
  68. Hamid Aghaie, Dalfgauw, Netherlands, Member Iran Transition Council
  69. Behrooz Ghasemi, Oxford, UK, Member Iran National Front
  70. Nasser Mansouri Monfared, London, UK,
  71. Bahram Bahramian, Washington D.C., USA, Member Avaye Melat Iran
  72. Khalil Rashidian Monfared, Durham, UK,
  73. Amir Hooshmand Momtaaz, California, USA, Member Iran National Front
  74. Manochehr Maghssuudnia, Berlin, Germany, member Iran transition Council
  75. Mahmoud Tadjalimehr, Cologne, Germany, Political Activist
  76. Mohammad Moghimi, UK, Lawyer and Human Rights Expert
  77. Ali Gholilou, Istanbul, Turkey, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  78. Majid Rezaii, Istanbul, Turkey, Former Prisoner of Conscience
  79. Asghar Jeilou, Researcher Women and Education Studies
  80. Kamal Azari, Pateluma, USA, Iran Transition Council
  81. Hamid Hamidi, Netherlands, Political Activist, Economic Planner
  82. Mehdi Hazeghazam, Sacramento, USA, Engineer, Rights Activist
  83. Kambiz Basetvat, Los Angeles, CA, Business Owner
  84. ‏‏Olivier Vilain, Massy, France, journalist
  85. ‏Ali Zarrin, Arizona, USA/Doctor of Philosophy
  86. Abtin Tahrozi, Australia, Student Directing Cinema
  87. Ali Jokar, Germany, Film Editing Expert
  88. Damon Tahrzi, Germany
  89. Behrouz Heshmat, Vienna, Australia, Sculptor
  90. Masoud Salazi, Paris, France, writer and journalist
  91. Frédéric Aribit, Paris, France, Writer
  92. Hossein Lajevardi, France, Sociologist
  93. Reza Moridi, Ontario, Canada, Physicist
  94. Ali Vakili, Canada, Political and Cultural Activist
  95. Afshin Afshin_Jam, Canada, Human rights and Environmental activist
  96. Abbasi, Netherland, Human Rights Activist
  97. Kia Hamidi, Istanbul, Turkey, Journalist
  98. Hassan Nayeb Hashem, Austria, Human Rights Activist
  99. Monoucher Mohammadi, USA, Human Rights Activist
  • Farhad Taleshi, UK, Political Activist
  • Hamid Tabrizi, Finaland, Social and Political Activist
  • Abbas Khorsandi, Secretary General Iran Democratic Front Abroad
  • Saeed Mohammadi, Los Angeles, USA, Singer Musician
  • Masoud Akhtarani Tehrani, Turkey, Journalist
  • Nahid Hosseini, UK, Researcher Women and Education Studies
  • Nima Alimi, Australia, Political Activist
  • Omid Mohamamdi, Sweden, Rights Activist
  • Kavos Arjmand, Sweden, Iran National Front
  • Abbas Mohammadpour, Stuttgart, Germany, Human Rights Activist