Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi underwent a complex surgery in Iran that saw part of a bone in her right leg removed over cancer fears, but was immediately returned to prison, raising the risks to her life, rights groups said.
A letter signed by more than 40 activist groups, sent to the UN Human Rights Council, urged that Mohammadi be immediately released on a medical furlough from a prison sentence on charges long criticized internationally. It is part of a wider pressure campaign on Iran over Mohammadi’s detention since the Nobel committee honored her last year.
Meanwhile, a group says another activist set himself on fire in prison this past weekend to protest against his incarceration, as Iran continues to face internal dissent after years of protests against its theocracy.
Photo: AP
“We urge that Iranian authorities stop the criminalization of human rights, and refrain from summoning human rights defenders, journalists and writers to serve their prison sentences while their health situation is precarious,” said the letter, dated Monday.
Iran’s mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday. Iranian state media, which broadly ignored previous campaigns seeking to free Mohammadi, did not immediately report on the letter.
Mohammadi, 52, is serving sentences totaling 13 years and nine months in prison on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran’s government.
She has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. That includes backing the nationwide, women-led protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.
She suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, the letter said.
This month, her lawyer announced that doctors found a bone lesion that they feared could be cancerous, sparking the surgery she underwent on Thursday last week.
“She was transferred back to prison after only two days, against her doctor’s advice and another request from her legal team that she be granted a medical furlough and sentence suspension,” the letter said.
“Years of imprisonment and months of solitary confinement have severely compromised Mohammadi’s health, leaving her with multiple serious conditions that cannot be addressed through a short, incomplete hospital visit,” it said.
Concerns are rising for other imprisoned activists in Iran as well. On Saturday, Saeid Gharibi set himself on fire to protest his 15-year sentence and conditions at Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison, the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said.
The center quoted his lawyer as saying Gharibi suffered severe burns to his back and hands and has been denied medical care. Iran has not acknowledged the incident.
Last week, a former journalist with the Voice of America’s Farsi service jumped to his death from a building in Tehran in protest of the country’s supreme leader and an ongoing crackdown on dissent.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS