Three political prisoners are still detained in the women’s ward of Evin Prison under legally undecided conditions. Varisha Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi have been held in a state of limbo for more than 280 days since their arrests, and Atena Farghdani has been detained for 26 days in the women’s ward of Evin Prison in uncertain circumstances.
Varisha Moradi
Varisha Moradi is a women’s rights activist and a member of the Free Women’s Society of Eastern Kurdistan (KJAR). She was abducted on August 1, 2023, in Kermanshah, on her way to Sanandaj in western Iran.
She was transferred from the Sanandaj Intelligence Department detention center to Ward 209 of Evin Prison by the end of August. On December 26, 2023, after the interrogation process was completed, Moradi was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Varisha Moradi, who is originally from Sanandaj, was charged in January by the Fifth Investigative Branch of the Tehran Public Prosecutor’s Office. Her case was then referred to the 15th Branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “armed rebellion” for membership in an opposition group.
According to reports, Varisha spent the first five months of her imprisonment in solitary confinement in the detention center of the Intelligence Department in Sanandaj and in Ward 209 in Evin Prison, where she was severely tortured to make false confessions against herself.
On April 9, 2024, she appeared at the 15th branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, but due to lack of counsel, the hearing on her charges was not held.
Ms. Moradi was also not allowed to meet with her lawyer before the trial as planned.
Pakhshan Azizi
Pakhshan Azizi is a journalist and a social worker. The Kurdish activist was arrested on August 4, 2023, in Shahrak-e Kharrazi, Tehran. Intelligence agents immediately took her to the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 in Evin Prison.
Pakhshan Azizi, a graduate of Social Work from Tehran University, has been deprived of having contact or visits with her family and of having access to legal representation.
Pakhshan Azizi was previously arrested on November 16, 2009, during a protest by Kurdish students at Tehran University against the execution of political prisoners in Kurdistan. She was released on March 19, 2010, on bail.
Atena Farghadani
Atena Farghadani, famous cartoonist and former political prisoner was violently arrested on April 13, 2024, by security forces while putting up one of her caricatures on a wall in Pastor Street where the presidential palace is located.
Security forces first took her to one of their safe houses and severely tortured her. She lost consciousness due to severe bleeding from her nose and the blows to her head, and hours later, regained consciousness in the prayer hall of the 8th Fateb police base where she found out some of her clothes had been removed.
After receiving her clothes, she noticed that blood stains were washed out of her clothes, and on the morning of April 14, she was transferred to the Evin courthouse.
On April 21, the authorities of Evin Prison planned to send Atena Farghadani to Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court for trial which she refused, arguing that she had not committed a crime and did not consider the Revolutionary Court to be legal. She has also refused to accept the counsel of lawyers approved by the judiciary.
