Iran: Prisoners sentenced to a living death

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has a heart condition. She has been jailed because of her commitment to human rights. Her husband reports that prison authorities have denied her vital medical examinations. He is deeply disturbed by Navalny's death. He appeals to the public not to forget political prisoners.

Mahvash Sabet was imprisoned from 2008 to 2017 because of her Bahá'í faith. After serving that sentence, she was freed, only to be jailed again five years later. According to the judge, she had "not learned her lesson." She is serving a 10-year sentence. Sabet claims she told her interrogator, "I will leave prison one day," with him answering: "Whether horizontally or vertically, we decide."

Rouhi was arrested in the summer of 2022 during the nationwide "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. He received three death sentences for allegedly attacking police officers and "burning a Quran." In August 2023, he died in prison from "unknown causes," according to the judiciary. According to Amnesty International, he had no known pre-existing medical conditions prior to his imprisonment.

Abtin also died in prison. He had been sentenced to six years in jail for alleged "propaganda against the state." In December 2021, he contracted coronavirus in prison. Despite his history of lung disease, prison staff refused medical treatment for so long that he eventually had to be placed in an induced coma and died shortly afterward.

Seyed-Emami was a respected environmentalist. In January 2018, he was arrested on alleged espionage charges. Two weeks later, he died under unexplained circumstances in Tehran's Evin prison. The judiciary claims that he took his own life. It is still not clear how he would be able to do this in a video-monitored solitary cell.

Beheshti was arrested in October 2012 for criticizing the government online. A week later, his relatives were asked to collect his body from the prison. In an open letter from prison, 41 fellow inmates confirmed that he had suffered severe injuries to his entire body. His mother is still campaigning for justice today.

The three men were arrested in 2009 for their participation in mass protests against the controversial reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They died in prison the same year. Their fellow prisoners later confirmed that they were severely tortured during their arrest and in prison. According to their families, traces of severe injuries were visible on their bodies.