Husband says Iran sentenced activist wife to prison and flogging

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to more than eight years in prison, according to her husband.

Paris-based Taghi Rahmani tweeted on Sunday that his wife, Narges Mohammadi, was tried in five minutes and sentenced to prison and 70 lashes. He said she was prohibited from communicating and had no access to lawyers. Last week, she was sent to Gharchak prison, near Tehran.

Authorities arrested Mohammadi in November after she attended a memorial for a victim of violent 2019 protests. Rahmani said in December that his wife was accused of “spying for Saudi Arabia.” “.

Mohammadi has a long history of imprisonment, harsh sentences and international calls for his case to be reviewed.

In May, the European Union called on Iran to reconsider its sentence of 30 months in prison and 80 lashes for protesting the killing of demonstrators during the country's 2019 unrest.

A spokesperson for the bloc urged Iran to review Mohammadi's case in accordance with “applicable international human rights law and taking into account his deteriorating health condition.” Mohammadi confirmed her conviction at the time in an Instagram post, saying she “does not accept any of these sentences.”

In her post, Mohammadi said one of the charges against her was throwing a party and dancing in prison.

She was released from prison in October 2020, having served eight and a half years in prison, after her original 10-year sentence was commuted. In this case, she was convicted by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges including planning crimes aimed at harming Iran's security, spreading propaganda against the government, and forming and operating a illegal group.

Before his imprisonment, Mohammadi was vice-president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, banned in Iran.

Mohammadi was close to Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, founder of the center. Ebadi left Iran after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, which sparked unprecedented protests and a harsh crackdown by authorities.

In 2018, Mohammadi, an engineer, received the 2018 Andrei Sakharov Prize.