Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of Nargess Mohammadi, the spokesperson for Shirin Ebadi’s Centre for Human Rights Defenders of Iran.
The press rights group issued a statement on Wednesday, reporting that Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi’s husband, was expressing grave concern for his wife’s health.
Mohammadi was summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence on April 21 and arrested at her father’s home in Zanjan, then transferred to Evin Prison the next day.
She has been charged with “assembly and collusion against national security and membership in the Centre for Human Rights Defenders of Iran and propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic regime.” She was sentenced to 11 years by the preliminary court, which was later reduced to six years in the appellate court.
Mohammadi, who also head of the National Peace Council, was previously arrested in June of 2010 and suffered a nervous breakdown, and she was released provisionally to get medical treatment.
Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, has told Reporters Without Borders that he is very concerned that his wife’s health will quickly deteriorate in prison,
Rahmani, a prominent journalist himself, has already fled his country after repeated harassment by Iranian security forces and a total of 14 years spent in Islamic Republic jails.
Rahmani fled Iran last March and, in a letter, reported that Mohammadi was not willing to leave her country and had decided to stay with her six-year-old twins.
Meanwhile, the Fars News Agency reported on April 21: “Nargess Mohammadi had bought large amounts of shares and bonds, which she was recently in the process of selling and turning into foreign currency to be taken out of the country.”
Iranian opposition website Melli Mazhabi reacted to the news, saying the Fars News Agency is often involved in fabricating cases against political and human rights activists.
