Another sentence, with the risk of having to spend many more days and nights behind prison bars. From Iran’s repressive system comes yet another harsh blow against one of the best-known figures of anti-regime dissidence: Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, a 53-year-old activist with a long history on the front line in the defense of civil rights in the country, particularly those of women. According to his lawyer Mostafa Nili, two new sentences have just arrived, with attached prison sentences of six and one and a half years respectively, non-cumulative, for charges of conspiracy and propaganda activities.
Tehran maintains its hard line. And it also does so by raising the tone on the very delicate negotiating table, sending a message directly to Washington: “Nothing will stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment, not even in the event of war”, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made it clear while news is expected on the new round of talks announced already this week.
The 2023 Nobel Prize winner Mohammadi learned the latest news about her already in her cell for almost two months, before the latest wave of protests against the ayatollahs broke out with the tragic toll of thousands of deaths. She was stopped last December 12 when, while participating in a ceremony dedicated to the activist Khosrow Alikordi who died in unclear circumstances, she was arrested and taken to prison in Mashhad, Iran’s second city. Not in the infamous Evin prison, where she has already spent long periods of detention in the past and from which she was then released for health reasons.
The latest decisions against the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner further aggravate an already very serious situation: according to the Narges Foundation, which supports her civil struggle, Mohammadi now faces sentences of 44 years in prison in total, after having spent 17 years in prison. In addition, now even if he were to leave he will not be able to leave the country and will have to live for two years in Khusf, a remote location in southern Khorasan. What is immediately worrying those who support her is also her state of health, aggravated by the six-day hunger strike, now interrupted, which she began on February 2 against her “illegal” detention. “For three days she was hospitalized, but then she was taken back to prison”, reported her lawyer after a “brief” phone call, hoping that she would be placed “on provisional release on bail”. In the last few hours, the Fars agency has also reported the arrest of three figures from the internal reformist camp, including the head of the Iranian Reform Front coalition, Azar Mansouri, for “crimes against national unity” and other charges.
In addition to the hard fist against its opponents, the ayatollah regime meanwhile shows that it wants to keep the point regarding negotiations with the USA, awaiting new talks in the next few days. “Diplomacy is the only way forward, but it is only successful when it recognizes our inherent rights and when there is dialogue rather than threats,” Araghchi noted. Meanwhile, according to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli defense officials recently advised US counterparts that Iran’s ballistic missile program poses an existential threat and that Jerusalem is prepared to act unilaterally if necessary. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reiterate in Washington when he will fly to the US on Tuesday to meet Donald Trump on the Iranian dossier.