Atena Farghadani refused to accept her bail bond and was transferred to the Shahr-e Rey Prison, better known as Qarchak. She said, “I have not committed any crime.”
“My client, Atena Farghadani, has refrained from accepting bail and has been transferred to Shahr-e Rey Prison. My client says that her summons and arraignment are illegal and arbitrary, and she has not committed any crime,” wrote Mohammad Moghimi, Atena’s lawyer, in a tweet on June 9.
Atena Farghadani, a cartoonist and children’s rights activist residing in Tehran was arrested on June 7, 2023, after being summoned to the investigative branch of the 33rd District Court.
Atena’s lawyer tweeted, “A bail order in the amount of 200 million tomans has been issued for my client. However, she has refrained from accepting the bail, arguing that she had not committed any crime and that her summons and arraignment were illegal and arbitrary. For this reason, she has been transferred to the Shahr-e Rey Prison.”
Ms. Farghadani was arrested in September 2014 and sentenced to 12 years and 9 months in prison for “insulting the Supreme Leader.” Ultimately, this sentence was reduced to 18 months of imprisonment in the Appeals Court.
In the summer of 2016, Atena Farghadani was released from prison with the efforts of the International Network for Cartoonists’ Rights. After her release, she stated to The Washington Post that she would not leave Iran and intended to stay and continue her activities there because her work had the most impact in Iran.
