TEHRAN: Iranian rights activist and journalist Narges Mohammadi, released from jail in October, has been handed a new sentence of 80 lashes and 30 months in jail, her lawyer said Thursday.
Mohammadi, 49, a campaigner against the death penalty, was spokeswoman for the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran — founded by lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi — when she was arrested in May 2015.
At that time, the mother-of-two was handed a 10-year prison sentence for “forming and managing an illegal group,” among other charges, but was released last year after her sentence was reduced.
However, on Tuesday, the reformist newspaper Etemad reported she had been tried and found guilty of “propaganda against the system” of the Islamic republic, as well as “defamation” ” and “rebellion against the prison authority.”
The paper said she was charged with having “issued a statement against the death penalty,” of having accused prison officials of “torture and harassment,” and of organizing a sit-in protest while in prison.
She was sentenced “to 80 lashes, 30 months in prison and two fines,” the paper reported.
Her lawyer, Mahmoud Behzadi-Rad, confirmed the report to AFP, adding that Mohammadi does not intend to appeal given the “circumstances,” without providing further details.
According to international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), during her detention Mohammadi was moved from Tehran’s Evin prison to a prison in Zanjan, in northwestern Iran.
The journalist had “lodged a complaint against her immoral and illegal transfer,” her lawyer said.
Etemad newspaper said the activist had also claimed she was “beaten and harassed” in Evin prison.
“Instead of examining her complaint, justice officials opened another case against my client,” Behzadi-Rad said.
The European Union called the sentencing “a worrying development.”
“Mohammadi has devoted her life to the cause of human rights,” an EU spokesperson said in a statement.
“The EU calls on Iran to review Mrs.Mohammadi’s case in compliance with the applicable international human rights law, and taking into account her deteriorating health condition.”
Iran sentences activist to 30 months jail, flogging
https://arab.news/bqckb
Iran sentences activist to 30 months jail, flogging
- Narges Mohammadi, a campaigner against the death penalty, was spokeswoman for the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in Iran
- Reformist newspaper Etemad reported Tuesday she had been found guilty of "propaganda against the system" of Iran
Death toll in Iran protests rises to more than 500, rights group says
- Protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution
DUBAI/JERUSALEM: Unrest in Iran has killed more than 500 people, a rights group said on Sunday, as Tehran threatened to target US military bases if President Donald Trump carries out threats to intervene on behalf of protesters.
With the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022, Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if force is used on protesters.
According to its latest spreadsheet — based on activists inside and outside Iran, US-based rights group HRANA said it had verified the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 security personnel, with more than 10,600 people arrested.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the tolls.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, speaking in parliament on Sunday, warned the United States against “a miscalculation.”
“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.
Authorities intensify crackdown
The protests began on December 28 in response to soaring prices, before turning against the clerical rulers who have governed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest. Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan said security forces had stepped up efforts to confront “rioters.”
The flow of information from Iran has been hampered by an Internet blackout since Thursday.
Footage posted on social media on Saturday from Tehran showed large crowds marching along a street at night, clapping and chanting. The crowd “has no end nor beginning,” a man is heard saying.
In footage from the northeastern city of Mashhad, smoke can be seen billowing into the night sky from fires in the street, masked protesters, and a road strewn with debris, another video posted on Saturday showed. Explosions could be heard.
Reuters verified the locations.
State TV aired footage of dozens of body bags on the ground at the Tehran coroner’s office on Sunday, saying the dead were victims of events caused by “armed terrorists.”
Three Israeli sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, said Israel was on a high-alert footing for the possibility of any US intervention.
An Israeli military official said the protests were an internal Iranian matter, but Israel’s military was monitoring developments and was ready to respond “with power if need be.” An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June last year, which the United States briefly joined by attacking key nuclear installations. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and an American air base in Qatar.
US ready to help, says Trump
Trump, posting on social media on Saturday, said: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!“
In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of US intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source present for the conversation.
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent voice in the fragmented opposition, said Trump had observed Iranians’ “indescribable bravery.” “Do not abandon the streets,” Pahlavi, who is based in the US, wrote on X.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a Paris-based Iranian opposition group, wrote on X that people in Iran had “asserted control of public spaces and reshaped Iran’s political landscape.”
Her group, also known as Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), joined the 1979 revolution but later broke from the ruling clerics and fought them during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Netanyahu, speaking during a cabinet meeting, said Israel was closely monitoring developments. “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny,” he said.
