Complaint Filed with UN over Mohammadi’s Detention

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Iran Justice lawyers collective have jointly filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention against the Iranian government, as part of efforts to put an end to the arbitrary detention of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.

The referral made on November 8 requests an “urgent action” by this group of UN experts in the form of “a letter of allegation” to the Iranian government, to be sent via diplomatic channels, the Paris-based RSF said in a statement. 

It would call on the Iranian authorities to immediately release Mohammadi from custody, and take all appropriate measures to guarantee her physical and psychological well-being.

The UN experts were also asked to investigate the “inhuman and degrading treatment” inflicted on the human rights activist by her jailers.

Mohammadi launched a hunger strike on November 6 in protest against the denial of medical care for herself and other women detainees who refuse to wear a mandatory headscarf. 

Two days later, on November 8, her husband Taghi Rahmani announced that she “was taken to the hospital without the mandatory hijab for medical tests.”

Rahmani said that the prison doctor's had recommended her "immediate hospitalization" due to a "50-percent blockage of two heart vessels.”

Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month for keeping up her fight against the “oppression of women” in her country despite numerous arrests and spending years behind bars.

RSF said the aims of the referral include “drawing attention to the fact that the Iranian authorities have repeatedly violated Mohammadi’s fundamental rights, including her freedom of expression and opinion, her dignity, her right to security, and her right to a normal and private family life,” as well as “stepping up the international pressure on the Iranian authorities and combatting impunity.”

The statement said the referral also marks the start of a campaign by scores of non-governmental organizations from across the world to demand Mohammadi’s release so that she can collect her Nobel Peace Prize during the official ceremony in Oslo on December 10.