“Prison guards and security agents resorted to violent action due to prisoners’ protest against the execution of Reza Rasai,” Mohammadi’s family said in a statement. File | Photo credit: Reuters
“Guards beat female inmates in Tehran’s Evin prison during clashes that erupted after an execution, families of inmates said.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Nargis Mohammadi Which raised new concerns about his health, he said.
Ms. Mohammadi, a 52-year-old rights activist who won the 2023 prize for her campaign against the death penalty, has been in prison since November 2021, and has spent most of the past decade in and out of jail.
Ms. Mohammadi’s family, based in Paris, insisted they had no direct contact with her since her right to make phone calls was revoked in November.
But she said she had learned from the families of other prisoners held at Evin that clashes began on Tuesday when female inmates began protesting against the execution.
About 30 convicts were executed this week, according to rights groups, including Gholamreza (Reza) Rasaei, who the Iranian judiciary said was hanged on Tuesday in connection with the 2022 protests.
“The prisoners’ protest against the execution of Reza Rasai led to violent action by prison guards and security agents,” Mohammadi’s family said in a statement late Thursday, citing the report. “Several women who stood up to the security forces were severely beaten. The confrontation escalated, resulting in physical injuries to some prisoners.”
After being punched in the chest, Mohammadi had trouble breathing and experienced severe chest pain, causing her to collapse and fall unconscious on the ground in the prison courtyard, the family said.
They said he was injured and was treated at the prison hospital but was not transferred to an outside hospital. “We are extremely concerned about his health and well-being under these circumstances,” the family said. Iranian prison authorities denied that prisoners were beaten and blamed the fights on inmates.
According to the statement, two inmates had “increased heart rate due to stress”, but medical examinations showed their general condition was “favourable”. Tasneem News agency.
Relatives and supporters raised concerns about Mohammadi’s condition earlier this month, saying they had been informed of the results of medical tests carried out in July “which showed a worrying deterioration in his health”.
For the past eight months, Mohammadi has been suffering from severe back and knee pain, including a herniated spinal disc. In 2021, a stent was placed on his main heart artery due to a blockage.
Mohammadi has continued to campaign even from behind bars and has strongly supported the protests that erupted across Iran in September 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress rules for women.
Mohammadi was sentenced in June to one year in prison for “propaganda against the state,” in addition to a number of other sentences he had already served: 12 years and three months in prison, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and political restrictions.