Dear Mr Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,

Prosecution authorities on the instruction of Ministry of Intelligence agents are subjecting human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, 50, who is arbitrarily detained in Shahr-e Rey prison (also known as Gharchak) in the city of Varamin, Tehran province, to torture and other ill-treatment. They are deliberately denying her adequate healthcare in reprisal for her public campaigning against the use of solitary confinement in Iran’s prisons and for seeking accountability for hundreds of unlawful killings during the November 2019 nationwide protests. According to her husband, Narges Mohammadi was transferred to hospital outside of prison on 23 June 2022 after experiencing shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat. At hospital, a specialist doctor said she required specific medications for serious health conditions related to her lungs and heart. Since her return to prison from hospital, Ministry of Intelligence agents, the associate prosecutor of the prison and prison officials, including from the protection and intelligence unit, have been denying Narges Mohammadi some of her required medication. The authorities previously withheld her medications from 21 April to 11 May 2022. Narges Mohammadi reported that on 3 February 2022, following a heart attack, the prison doctor denied her adequate healthcare, while prosecution officials barred her transfer to hospital outside of prison for urgent healthcare, placing her life at risk. Only after Narges Mohammadi suffered a series of heart attacks on 16 February 2022, she was transferred to hospital, where she had emergency heart surgery. Against medical advice and before she recuperated, on 19 February 2022, authorities took her back to prison.

Narges Mohammadi was convicted and sentenced to a total of 10 years and eight months in prison, 154 lashes and other sanctions in two separate cases stemming solely from her human rights work; and in late April 2022, prosecution authorities opened a new case. Narges Mohammadi’s latest imprisonment resumed on 21 April 2022, when Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested her while she out of prison on medical leave, which began on 22 February 2022, and sent her to Gharchak to continue serving her sentences. There, prison authorities are holding her in cruel and inhumane conditions. In recent weeks, prisoners in Gharchak have reported overflowing sewage resulting in filthiness and foul odours, putting prisoners at risk of disease and exacerbating the unsanitary conditions in the wards, washing and toilet facilities.

I call on you to immediately and unconditionally release Narges Mohammadi as she is prisoner of conscience detained solely for her peaceful human rights activities, quash her unjust convictions and sentences, and drop any criminal proceedings against her in relation to the peaceful exercise of her human rights. Pending her release, she must be provided with adequate healthcare, including for treatment unavailable in prison, and with all the medication she requires. She must also be protected from further torture and other ill-treatment. A prompt, independent, effective and impartial investigation into her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be conducted, with a view of bringing those responsible to justice in fair trials.

Yours sincerely,