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Open letter to release Iran’s female prisoners of conscience during pandemic

Call on Iran to Free its Imprisoned Female Prisoners of Conscience as Coronavirus Overtakes Prisons

In this COVID-19 pandemic, Iran is suffering one of the most damaging and deadliest outbreaks of any country in the world. Last week, the Iranian parliament’s research centre released a report, written by independent experts, asserting that the true death toll could be nearly double the official figures and the number of infections may be up to 10 times higher.[1] If confirmed, these numbers would make Iran the country with the highest number of cases in the world. A study by Iran’s prestigious Sharif University warns that the death toll may rise to 3.5 million in a worst-case scenario.[2]

Despite the catastrophic situation on the ground, the government reopened businesses and resumed regularly scheduled public transportation last week— a move that is feared could spark a further wave.

The situation is even worse in Iran’s prisons. In February, the UN released a report documenting how the unsanitary and overcrowded prison conditions in Iran were already causing the spread of other infectious diseases.[3] By the beginning of March, COVID-19 was added to the list.[4] At that point, the women’s ward in Evin Prison, where a large number of the female prisoners of conscience are detained in cramped and unsanitary spaces, had already run out of medical and cleaning supplies.[5] 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. At least ten prisoners have reportedly died of the virus in Iran,[6] though the numbers cannot be verified as authorities have denied outside observers access to prisons.[7]

The authorities have reported the release of some tens of thousands of “low-level” prisoners temporarily to control the spread. However, it is not possible to verify the high number of alleged releases and authorities have thus far refused to release hundreds of peaceful political prisoners. This is no judicial oversight. It is part of a policy that looks to further punish political prisoners by keeping them in dangerous prison conditions.

We therefore urge 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. 

The following women are leading human rights defenders, lawyers, educators, writers, artists, and environmentalists, who have been sentenced to some of the harshest prison sentences in Iran’s history. The list includes Iranian and dual citizens.*

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 Ghedamian

15. Zahra Zehtabchi

16. Rezvaneh Khanbeigi

17. Elham Barmaki

18. Maryam Haj Hosseini


Other Prisons:

19. Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi (Qarchak Prison)

20. Leila Mirghafari (Qarchak Prison)

21. Raha Ahmadi (Qarchak Prison)

22. Zohreh Sarv (Qarchak Prison)

23. Maryam Ebrahimvand (Qarchak Prison)

24. Fatemeh Khishvand (Qarchak Prison)

25. Narges Mohammadi (Zanjan Prison)

26. Zeinab Jalalian (Khoy Prison)

27. Fatemeh Sepehri (Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad)

28. Fatemeh Dadvand (Bukan Prison)

29. Mojgan Sayami (Ardebil  Central Prison)

30. Fatemeh Asma Esmaeilzadeh

31. Enis Saadet

32. Jaka Esmaeilpour

33. Sheida Najafian

34. Samira Hadian

35. Hajar Ardasr

36. Hakimeh Ahmadi

37. Fatemeh Kohanzadeh

38. Zari Tavakkoli

39. Gita Hor

40. Maryam Mokhtari

41. Saghar Mohammadi

42. Mokhgan Eskandari

43. Nahid Beshid

44. Simmin Mohammadi

45. Ehteram Sheikhi

46. Sheida Abedi

47. Masoumeh Ghasemzadeh Malekshah

48. Yalda Firouzian

49. Farideh Jaberi

50. Masoumeh Askari


Signed: 

Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights

European Parliament, Vice-President Heidi Hautala on behalf of the Community of Sakharov Prize laureates

Abdorrahman Boroumand Center 

Alliance Against State Hostage Taking 

Arseh Sevom 

Article 18

Center for Human Rights in Iran 

Defenders of Human Rights Centre

Equality Now 

Freedom House 

Human Rights Activists in Iran 

Human Rights Foundation 

Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre 

Iran Human Rights 

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

International Observatory of Human Rights

Lantos Foundation 

Movements.org 

Nobel Women 

Siamak Pourzand Foundation 

Stop Child Executions 

United for Iran


[1] Nasser Karimi, Iran parliament: Virus deaths nearly double reported figures, The Associated Press, Apr. 15, 2020, available at https://apnews.com/15502fe8fc535119f927d2669b63ce91.

[2] Nasser Karimi and Jon Gambrell, Iran warns virus could kill ‘millions’ in Islamic Republic, The Associated Press, Mar. 17, 2020, available at https://apnews.com/6e92d93551ee6c6ae51d0acaaad9eb32.

[3] Emma Farge, U.N. urges Iran to free political prisoners temporarily amid coronavirus, Reuters, available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-rights-iran/u-n-urges-iran-to-free-political-prisoners-temporarily-amid-coronavirus-idUSKBN20X1YV.

[4]  Iran: UN expert alarmed by detention conditions in the wake of recent protests, Office of the UN High Comm’r for Human Rights, Mar. 9, 2020, available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25689&LangID=E

[5] Grave Concerns for Prisoners in Iran Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Center for Human Rights in Iran, Feb. 28, 2020, available at https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/02/grave-concerns-for-prisoners-in-iran-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/.

[6] No water, no soap and crowded cells: COVID-19 fears spark riots in Iran’s prisons, France24, Apr. 7, 2020, available at https://observers.france24.com/en/20200407-covid19-riots-iranian-prisons-deaths

[7] https://en.radiofarda.com/a/political-prisoner-in-iran-on-hunger-strike-to-protect-inmates-from-coronavirus/30493143.html.

*Given the fast-moving and restrictive situation on the ground, this list is not exhaustive.

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