The life of Atena Farghadani is at risk due to poisoning and physical assault by ordinary prisoners in the notorious Qarchak Prison.
Mr. Mohammad Moghimi, her lawyer, announced on his Twitter account, “The life of Atena Farghadani is in danger. My client, Atena Farghadani, discovered that her food was poisoned in Qarchak Prison and refrained from eating it. When she went to the prison buffet to get food, she was beaten and injured by several ordinary criminals hired by the regime.”
Mohammad Moghimi added in another tweet, “Ms. Farghadani has started a dry hunger strike in protest against the poisoning of her food.”
On June 21, 2023, Ms. Farghadani was transferred to a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to her deteriorating condition. The life of Atena Farghadani is in danger, and according to her lawyer, her critical condition is a result of the assault and injuries in prison and the consequences of her dry hunger strike.
Atena Farghadani, a committed artist
Atena Farghadani, who was previously deprived of continuing her studies at the master’s level due to her activities, was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran after being summoned and reporting to the Evin courthouse.
Atena Farghadani was arrested in September 2014 and sentenced to 12 years and nine months of imprisonment for “insulting the leader (Khamenei).” Ultimately, this sentence was reduced to 18 months of imprisonment in the Revision Court.
Ms. Farghadani was sentenced to 12 years in prison for drawing and posting on social media cartoons that depicted members of the regime’s parliament with animal heads.
She was charged with “conspiracy against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” and “insulting members of the parliament.”
When she was temporarily released from prison in 2014, she exposed the harassment and abuses faced by prisoners, which quickly led to her return to prison. She went on a hunger strike. Another time, she suffered a heart attack. Atena Farghadani was finally released from prison on May 3, 2016.
In an open letter in June 2016, Atena Farghadani stressed that she would continue her artistic activities, “I would not mind going to jail and to solitary confinement.”
She added in her letter, “As long as I live, I will stay in Iran and I would not mind going to jail and solitary confinement! … For me the best and the most beautiful are summed up in the word of motherland.”
