Political Activist Narges Mansouri Under Torture Without Access to Lawyer

Quoting her family, lawyer Mohammad Moghimi, spoke to Iran Human Rights about the breaches of Narges Mansouri’s rights: “After being arrested in the border region, Ms Mansouri was taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Since then, she has been beaten by the interrogators on at least one occasion; under the pretext that she’d insulted the leader of the Islamic Republic, she was beaten so hard that she was throwing up blood.”

“Narges Mansouri has only had access to a phone once during this period and because she has been denied access to a lawyer of her choice, the details of her charges and the torture she has been subjected to aren’t available,” the lawyer added.

According to Mr Moghimi, Narges has only once been allowed to see her mother and sister from behind glass walls for a few minutes during her detention.

On 19 May, state-run IRNA claimed that Narges Mansouri was arrested by security forces while trying to cross the border out of Iran.

According to the report, Narges was accused of being on a “mission to provoke public opinion by making fake statements and giving distorted and provocative interviews with the aim of creating chaos and insecurity in the country.”

Narges Mansouri is one of the 14 signatories to an open letter calling for the resignation of Supreme Leader Khamenei, the peaceful transition from the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a new constitution.

She is also a member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and has spent years campaigning for workers rights.

Following news of her arrest, state-run media claimed that she was arrested to serve a previously unimplemented sentence from 2019.

Narges Mansouri was arrested by IRGC forces while on her way home from work in August 2019 and held in the IRGC’s security Ward 2A in Evin Prison for 20 days before being transferred to Qarchak Prison. She was returned to Evin Prison and held in the general ward thereafter.

She was released on a bail of 500 million tomans in November 2019. Narges was sentenced to five years imprisonment on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and a year for “propaganda against the system” by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Afshari.

According to informed sources, Narges has continued her activism since her release from prison and has tried to stay out of the security forces’ reach.