PARIS: Jailed Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi and other female inmates were hurt in clashes that erupted at Tehran’s Evin prison following a spate of executions, her family said, raising new concerns for her health.
Iranian authorities acknowledged a confrontation had taken place on Tuesday but blamed Mohammadi for a “provocation” and denied any of the prisoners had been beaten.
Human rights activist Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 prize for her campaigning including against the death penalty, has been jailed since November 2021, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison.
The Paris-based family of Mohammadi emphasized it had had no direct contact with her since her right to make phone calls was revoked in November.
But it said it had learnt from several other families of detainees held in Evin that clashes erupted on Tuesday as the female prisoners launched a protest in the yard against the executions.
According to rights groups, around 30 convicts were hanged this week, including Gholamreza (Reza) Rasaei, who the Iranian judiciary said was executed on Tuesday in connection with 2022 protests.
“The protest by prisoners against the execution of Reza Rasaei led to a violent crackdown by prison guards and security agents,” Mohammadi’s family said in a statement late Thursday, citing the reports.
“Several women who stood in front of the security forces were severely beaten. The confrontation escalated, resulting in physical injuries for some prisoners.”
The family said that after being punched in the chest, Mohammadi suffered a respiratory attack and intense chest pain, causing her to collapse and faint on the ground in the prison yard.
She was bruised and treated in the prison infirmary but not transferred to a hospital outside, it said.
“We are deeply worried about her health and well-being under these circumstances,” the family said.
Relatives and supporters had earlier this month raised concern about Mohammadi’s condition, saying they had been informed of the results of medical tests carried out in July “which showed a worrying deterioration of her health.”
In the past eight months, Mohammadi has been suffering from acute back and knee pain, including a slipped disc. In 2021, a stent was placed on one of her main coronary arteries due to a blockage.
Iran’s prison authority denied that prisoners were beaten and blamed the confrontation on Mohammadi and other inmates who it said had broken the lock of an outer door.
Two prisoners “had heart palpitations due to the stress,” but medical examinations determined that their general condition “is favorable,” it said in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Reports have suggested increasing tensions in the women’s wing of Evin prison after two Kurdish female activists, Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi, were sentenced to death on charges of membership of an outlawed group.
Rights groups say that Iran has intensified the use of capital punishment after a brief lull in the run-up to the June-July election that brought reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian to power.
Authorities executed 29 people at two prisons in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj on Wednesday alone, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights.
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, “is extremely concerned” by the reports, spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told journalists in Geneva. “This represents an alarmingly high number of executions in such a short period of time.”
Mohammadi has kept campaigning even behind bars and strongly supported the protests that erupted across Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd had been arrested for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women.
She received a new one-year prison term in June for “propaganda against the state,” adding to sentences that already amounted to 12 years and three months of imprisonment, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and political restrictions.
Iran Nobel winner hurt in prison clashes with guards: family
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Iran Nobel winner hurt in prison clashes with guards: family
- “The protest by prisoners against the execution of Reza Rasaei led to a violent crackdown by prison guards and security agents,” Mohammadi’s family said
- The family said that after being punched in the chest, Mohammadi suffered a respiratory attack and intense chest pain, causing her to collapse and faint
Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills
- A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews
ANKARA: An explosion occurred at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, an official said, adding the situation was “under control” and there were no reports of any casualties.
Mayor Tahir Buyukakin told private NTV television that the blast occurred at the Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, Tupras, in Izmit provicince during “routine drills.”
A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The official National News Agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.
Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan
- Militants from the Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid in Sistan-Baluchistan province on October 26
- Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces
TEHRAN: Iran’s military has killed eight militants in an operation in the restive southeast since a deadly attack last month on a police station, state media reported Tuesday.
Militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid on October 26 in Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and extremists, opposed to the authorities in Iran.
Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said “a total of eight terrorists have been killed” since the beginning of operations in the province, according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the attack, he said, adding security forces seized weapons and ammunition.
Shortly after the attack in Taftan county, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, a report on the Tasnim news agency said four militants had been killed and four others arrested.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the attackers “were not Iranian,” though he did not specify their nationalities.
In early October, at least six people including police officers were killed in two separate attacks in the province.
Jaish Al-Adl said on Telegram they had carried out the attacks.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says
- The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing
GENEVA: More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave, a World Health Organization official said.
“These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then a portion will travel to Romania.
Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions
- In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security
DUBAI: Two French citizens detained in Iran since May 2022 are in good health and being held in good detention conditions, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday, according to state media.
Last month, France’s foreign ministry said the conditions that three of its nationals were being held in by Iran were unacceptable.
“According to the relevant authorities, these two people have good conditions in the detention center and are in good health, so any claim regarding their conditions being abnormal is rejected,” Jahangir said.
The spokesperson was referring to Cecile Koehler and Jacques Paris, who he said were arrested on charges of espionage and will have their next court hearing on Nov. 24.
Jahangir did not mention the third French national detained in Iran. French media have disclosed only his first name, Olivier.
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.