Iran persists in detaining human rights activists

Shiva Nazar-Ahari

Islamic Republic authorities refuse to release Shiva Nazar-Ahari and Kouhyar Goudarzi, two members of Human Rights Reporters, after 200 days in prison.

The two activists were arrested in December on their way to Qom to attend the funeral of dissident cleric Ayatollah Montazeri, and have been in Evin Prison since.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari was also arrested earlier after the controversial presidential elections in June 2009 and was detained for three months. She has spent over 100 days in solitary confinement.

Human Rights Reporters reports that the mother of Kouhyar Goudarzi has prepared his bail but judiciary officials have told her that he will not be released until the appeals court issues his final sentence.

However, her attempts at contacting the appeals court have also failed since she is not informed which branch of the court is handling his son’s appeal.

Goudarzi is currently in the section 350 of Evin Prison which reportedly has one of the worst conditions due to lack of sanitary services and over-crowding.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari is also in a kind of undetermined state at the general section of Evin Prison and there has been no trial to assess her file. She was given a trial date for June which has now been postponed.

In the past year, numerous Iranian human rights activists have been confronted by security and judicial bodies. These activists have been arrested and many have been given heavy prison terms.

Mahboubeh Karami, Hossein Ronaqi Maleki and Mehdi Khodai are some of the other human rights activists who have been detained for months and Abolfazl Abedini was given 11 years in prison for his human rights activities.