Three female political prisoners were arraigned of Bagh-y or armed insurgency, a charge that is punishable including among other with the death penalty.
The Evin Courthouse informed them of their charge on Saturday, December 9. The three female political prisoners are Marzieh Farsi, Forough Taghipour, and Nasim Gholami Fard. They are accused of collaboration with opposition groups.
Forough Taghipour and Marzieh Farsi were arrested on August 21, 2023, on the eve of the anniversary of the Iran Uprising on September 16, 2022. They were immediately transferred to the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
Marzieh Farsi suffers from cancer, and she does not have access to her medications while in detention.
The third prisoner, Nasim Gholami Fard, was arrested in Tehran in July for communicating and collaborating with an opposition group. She went on hunger strike for two weeks which ended with favorable promises by the authorities.
The charge of Bagh-y can be punished with execution, crucifixion, amputation of the right hand and the left foot, or internal exile.
The NCRI Women’s Committee strongly denounces the charges of armed insurgency (Bagh-y) leveled by the Iranian regime against women activists Marzieh Farsi, Forough Taghipour, and Nasim Gholami Fard. These accusations lack merit. The international community must speak out against these violations of human rights and call for the immediate release of these activists.
Who is Marzieh Farsi?
Marzieh Farsi, born in 1965, is a housewife with two children.
She was arrested on February 18, 2020, in Shahr-e Rey, and taken for interrogation under torture. She was released on February 22, 2023, from the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Who is Forough Taghipour?
Born on May 10, 1994, Forough Taghipour graduated in accounting with a bachelor’s degree.
Ms. Taghipour and her mother were arrested on February 24, 2020. She was detained in Ward 209 of Evin Prison and underwent interrogation under torture.
On January 5, 2021, Tehran’s Revolutionary Court tried Forough Taghipour and her mother on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion” through membership in the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The judge presiding over her case threatened Forough Taghipour to hand down a verdict for Moharebeh (waging war on God). She rejected this charge and pleaded not guilty. She finally received a five-year prison sentence.
Political prisoner Forough Taghipour was among the political prisoners transferred from Qarchak Prison to the Evin Prison. She contracted Covid-19 after the new Coronavirus outbreak in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Forough Taghipour was imprisoned in the women’s ward of Evin before being released in February 2023.
