Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, March 15, 2021—The Iranian regime has sentenced 25-year-old political prisoner Forogh Taghipour to five years in prison for being a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Her sister is one of the MEK members in Ashraf 3 in Albania.
Forough was arrested on February 24, 2020, with her mother Nassim Jabbari. Zahra Safai, a former political prisoner, and her daughter Parastou Moini were arrested along with Moeini and Jabbari. They were transferred to Ward 209 of the notorious Evin prison. In mid-April 2020 after months of interrogations, they were transferred to Qarchak Prison of Varamin. These political prisoners were tortured, harassed, and beaten by prison authorities. Forough also contracted coronavirus in Qarchak prison.
On February 9, the inhuman mullahs’ regime sentenced political prisoners Zahra Safaei and Parastoo Moeini to eight- and six-year prison terms, respectively. The regime’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) also framed new charges against two other political prisoners, Majid Assadi and Mohammad Amirkhizi, on charges of supporting the MEK.
Political prisoner, Zahra Safaei, 58, has been in prison since February 2020. During this time, she has been under constant torture and interrogation. She has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of “conspiracy and propaganda against the state” and “insulting regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei.”
Safaei had previously spent seven years in the Iranian regime’s prisons, from 1981 to 1988.
The regime punishes support for the MEK with heavy sentences. Recently the regime also denied medical care for the Iranian political prisoner Fatemeh Mosanna, held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Ms. Mosanna was arrested on charges of supporting the MEK.
The regime also extended the prison sentence of political prisoner Saeed Sangar for another 11 months in January. Sangar is charged with supporting MEK. Having spent more than 20 years behind bars, Saeed Sangar is one of the longest-standing political prisoners in Iran. It is worth noting that during his long period of incarceration, Sangar has not been granted a single day of leave outside the prison.
On Thursday, March 11, political prisoner Afshin Baymani ,who is serving his 21st year behind bars in Gohardasht prison, Karaj, was transferred to the prison clinic due to heart problems. But despite the doctors' recommendations, the prison authorities prevented him from being taken to the hospital. He was arrested in September 2000 for helping his brother, Mehdi Baymani, an MEK member murdered by the regime, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Also on Saturday, March 13, regime authorities took teacher activist and political prisoner Esmail Abdi from Gohardasht prison without prior notice and claiming to want to transfer him to Evin prison.
However, under the pretext that there was no transfer order by Amin Vaziri, the Special Prosecutor for Political Prisoners, he was handcuffed and taken to the Karaj courthouse. Abdi was arrested in July 2015 and sentenced to six years in prison in March 2016 by the notorious Judge Abolghassem Salavati. After being denied making calls to his family, Abdi went on a hunger strike on March 7. His contact with his family was restricted and was conditional on the presence of an interrogator.
On March 10, on the order of Hamidreza Fathi, head of the Greater Tehran Prison, political prisoner Pouya Abdi was transferred to the infected prison quarantine. This punitive action was due to Pouya’s protest against the way prison guards treated sick prisoners. New prisoners are jampacked into the prison quarantine, which is a very contaminated place.
In a statement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called on the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council, and other human rights organizations to take immediate action to secure the immediate release of political prisoners, and reiterated its call for an international commission of inquiry to visit Iranian prisons and meet with prisoners, especially political prisoners.
