Fatemeh Ziaii, a political prisoner who remains in detention without due process, was transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin on Tuesday, September 16.
Fatemeh Ziaii suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS), and her health condition has been described as critical. Despite her urgent need for specialized medical care, she was transferred to Qarchak while still being denied access to proper treatment.
Qarchak Prison, notorious for its inhumane conditions and lack of medical facilities, has raised grave concerns for Ms. Ziaii’s safety and well-being following her transfer.
On Wednesday morning, August 6, 2025, Iranian security forces raided the home of Fatemeh Ziaii Azad (Houri), a former political prisoner and supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), arresting her and confiscating all her communication devices. This marks the seventh time Fatemeh Ziaii has been arrested over the past four decades.
Fatemeh Ziaii, now 68 years old, is a survivor of Iran’s notorious political prison system of the 1980s. She has spent over 13 years in prisons and torture centers under the clerical regime. Ziaii suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), and her health is reported to be in a fragile and deteriorating condition.
Her previous arrest dates to September 10, 2022, when, despite her critical health, she was imprisoned for over a year. She was eventually released on January 19, 2025, after the Legal Medicine Organization (Iran’s forensic authority) officially confirmed her “inability to endure prison conditions.” Her latest re-arrest comes in direct defiance of prior medical warnings that further incarceration could pose a severe threat to her life.
The NCRI Women’s Committee expresses grave concern over Ms. Ziaii’s condition and calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and all relevant international human rights bodies to take urgent action for her immediate and unconditional release.
