National Post (National Edition)
A COVID death penalty
AFTER FIGHTING FOR IRAN’S MOST VULNERABLE, THESE IMPRISONED WOMEN HAVE BECOME THE MOST VULNERABLE OF ALL
From the depths of Iran’s prisons — perhaps the last place one would expect — two courageous women have demonstrated unparalleled and inspiring leadership during this global crisis. Narges Mohammadi and Nasrin Sotoudeh spent their lives fighting for Iran’s most vulnerable, until becoming the country’s most vulnerable themselves.
At the ages of 48 and 56, they are serving a combined 54 years in prison for defending human rights and political prisoners. They were specifically charged for their affiliation with human rights and peace groups, as well as launching an organization to gradually abolish the death penalty in a country that continues to execute juvenile offenders.
Before the outbreak began, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran released a report documenting how overcrowded and unhygienic prison conditions were causing the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis C. By the beginning of March, COVID-19 was added to the list. At that point, the women’s ward in Evin Prison— where Sotoudeh and Mohammadi have been held— had already ran out of medical and cleaning supplies.
There is now a general consensus among experts that Iran’s official COVID-19 numbers are significantly underreported. According to an independent report by Iran’s own parliament, the death toll may be nearly double and number of cases 10 times higher, which could make Iran the hardest hit country in the world. The numbers are likely worse in Iran’s prisons, where authorities have denied outside observers.
A study by Iran’s prestigious Sharif University predicts a worst-case scenario of 3.5 million deaths in the country, depending on the level of public co-operation. Public trust, however, is at an all-time low following a number of state-orchestrated atrocities. In November, security forces unleashed the bloodiest crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, killing 1,500 people in less than two weeks. In January, the government lied to the public and systematically concealed its shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner Flight 752, claiming the lives of the 176 passengers on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. And now, the government is covering up the extent of the pandemic, arresting journalists, ordering hospitals not to list coronavirus as a cause of death, and suggesting the
U.S. produced the virus. By April, the government was already reopening its borders and businesses and resuming regular public transportation schedules.
To its credit, Iran reportedly released thousands of prisoners temporarily to curb the spread. The Judiciary Chief, Ebrahim Raisi, stated that furloughs would continue as long as prisoners do not pose a threat to society. However, hundreds of political prisoners remain in prison, considered to pose “national security” threats.
This omission is not an oversight. It’s part of a deliberate policy to execute Iran’s political prisoners, if not actively, then passively.
Raisi, a possible successor to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is the same official responsible for the crimes against humanity committed in 1988, when he served on the notorious death commissions, which sent at least 5,000 political prisoners to death by firing squad or hanging. He is also now overseeing Iran’s investigation into the downing of Flight 752. On the day Raisi was sworn in as Judiciary Chief last year, one of his first acts was to issue Nasrin Sotoudeh the harshest prison sentence ever received by a political prisoner — 38 years and 148 lashes.
Narges Mohammadi is serving a 16-year sentence and has a history of severe respiratory conditions, including a blood clot in her lungs. According to the latest news from her mother, she is suffering from “a severe cough, sore throat, and chest pain.”
By refusing to release these courageous women, the authorities are effectively subjecting them to the very cruel punishment they sought to abolish — the death penalty.
While the government engages in coverups, Sotoudeh and Mohammadi are finding ways to continue to fight for their compatriots from prison. Mohammadi has issued statements and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in solidarity with other prisoners and victims of the November crackdown. For her conduct, she was brutally beaten and transferred to a more dangerous facility. She recently managed to leak a letter out of prison:
“What keeps me on my feet … is my love for the honourable, but tormented, people of this country … I
pledge to speak the truth, defy tyranny and defend the oppressed until my last breath.”
For International Women’s Day this year, Sotoudeh also sent a letter to the world, describing how she spends her time in prison — teaching others about “truth and reconciliation commissions.” The letter itself was a plea for peace, “this fundamental aspect of survival:”
“I specifically extend my hand to American citizens. Our governments have been rivals for years, with little regard for us.”
Like the women she defended for waving their headscarves in public, Sotoudeh waves her white flag in a defiant message of peace.
Sotoudeh also recently led a hunger strike for the release of her fellow political prisoners during the pandemic, and a broad coalition of international and Iranian organizations just echoed her demands in a public appeal.
Canada should do the same, and can take concrete measures by imposing visa bans and targeting the finances of Ebrahim Raisi and the architects of repression in Iran through Magnitsky sanctions. Canada can then lead a global movement of countries with Magnitsky laws to hold these officials accountable, while recognizing the true leadership of their victims who languish in prison.
Irwin Cotler is international legal counsel to Nasrin Sotoudeh and Narges Mohammadi, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Founding Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR). Shaparak Shajarizadeh is a Senior Fellow at the RWCHR, an Iranian women’s rights leader and former political prisoner who was represented by Nasrin Sotoudeh. Yonah Diamond is an international human rights lawyer with the
RWCHR.