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Prisoners

Alarm Raised Over Fate Of Iranian Activist Forcibly Disappeared In 2021

March 15, 2023
1 min read
Ebrahim Babaei “is held solely for the exercise of his human rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” the London-based human rights watchdog said on March 14
Ebrahim Babaei “is held solely for the exercise of his human rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” the London-based human rights watchdog said on March 14

Amnesty International is urging the Iranian authorities to immediately release a political activist who remains forcibly disappeared 15 months after attempting to flee Iran, or at least disclose his fate and whereabouts.

Ebrahim Babaei “is held solely for the exercise of his human rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” the London-based human rights watchdog said on March 14.

Pending Babaei’s release, the group urged the authorities to “ensure that he is moved to an official place of detention, is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and is given regular access to his family, a lawyer of his choosing and to adequate medical care.”

Iranian intelligence and security forces have routinely subjected dissidents to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment to forced “confessions” in order to secure convictions in grossly unfair trials.

The 56-year-old Babaei was forcibly disappeared in December 2021 during an attempt to flee Iran to avoid “unjust prison and flogging sentences for his peaceful activism, including supporting Iranian women’s campaign against discriminatory compulsory veiling laws,” according to Amnesty International.

The authorities have since refused to confirm his detention or provide any information about his fate and whereabouts to his family, which has not had any contact with him since December 21, 2021.

Shortly after Babaei’s disappearance, two official sources told the family informally that he was held in secret detention places known as “safe houses.”

An individual contacted the family in July 2022, and reported witnessing Ministry of Intelligence agents arresting Babaei and 25 others who were also being smuggled. The source said that Babaei was wearing an ankle monitor and “looked like he had been severely beaten.”

Amnesty International said that Babaei needs treatment and medication for multiple health conditions including “heart disease, a chronic leg injury and mental health issues.”

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