Baha'i Prisoners Face Double Oppression

The twenty one women political prisoners in the Naswan (women) Ward of Evin prison are the only political prisoner women in the general ward of the prison since their non-political inmates were transferred to Gharchak prison about two years ago. But who are these women prisoners? What are their charges and convictions and what about their living conditions? Rooz spoke with Amin Ahmadian, the husband of political prisoner Bahareh Hedayat who has been confined to Evin for the past 4 years, about the twenty one women and others. Here are the excerpts of the interview and talk.

Ahmadian said that the women population in this ward has shrunk to almost half of what it used to be until recently. Part of the reason is that prisoners who had been held in connection with the post election events of 2009 or those that were affiliated with the Green Movement have dropped since the recent release of some. Hakimeh Shokri, Shiva Nazar-Ahari, Maryam Shafipoor and Bahareh Hedayat are among those who still remain. Today, Shiva Nazar-Ahari is on prison leave. She is serving a four-year sentence. Hakimeh Shokri is from the Morning Mothers group who is serving a three-year sentence. Maryam Shafipoor is a student activist who has only recently been transferred from the notorious Ward 209 to the women’s general ward. She had been scheduled to have her trial this week but Judge Salavati postponed it for the following week. Bahareh Hedayat is also a student activist with a nine-year sentence who was later retried and her term was extended to ten years.

He said that most of the women prisoners in the women’s ward were there on charges of supporting the People’s Mojahedin organization, the MKO (Sazemane Mojahedine Khalghe Iran). Maryam Akbari Monfared with a 15-year sentence, Behnaz Zaker with a four-year sentence, Shabnam Madadzadeh with a five-year sentence, Motahere Bahrami with a ten-year sentence and Fateme Mosna are all in this ward. Motahereh Bahrami is also currently on prison leave. Along with Haj Ebrahimi she was detained in conn3ection with the 2009 Ashura events. Fatemeh Masna’s husband is also in Evin, in Ward no 350.

The Bahais are another group of women political prisoners in Evin. Amin Ahmadian continues, “Faran Hasami and Nooshin Khadem, each have a four-year prison sentence while Jhinoos Rahimi has a one-year term, and all three are Bahais who were arrested in connection with the Bahai online university. Lava Khanjani is another Bahai prisoner who was also arrested in connection with the 2009 Ashura post presidential election events. She has been sentenced to two years of prison. Mahnoosh Shahriyari (Sabet) and Fariba Kamalabadi were members of the Bahai central council members and each have a twenty year sentence.”

There are other women prisoners. Bahareh Hedayat’s husband talks about them. “Besmeh Aljaboori, an Iraqi national who has already served two out of her five-year prison term in Evin on charges of espionage. Maryam Naghash Zargar is a Christian and has a four-year sentence on charges of publicizing Christianity. Elham Barmaki was transferred from Ward 209 less than a month ago and she is charged with espionage for Britain. She spent 14 months in Ward 209,” he said.

Prison conditions have improved over the last 4 years and since the gradual transfers. Prison officials allowed the families of prisoners to provide their imprisoned inmates with some of their needs. Their living space too has been expanded slightly. But their access to their family members remains the same. Telephone calls have been banned for over two years now. Inmates have weekly cabin meetings with their family members and inmates are in the dark about the lives of their loved ones for a whole week, until they see their family members again, according to Ahmadian.

Meetings can be in person only once a month, but these have their own problems.

Ahmadian talks a little about the recent releases from prison. Melk Mohammadi and Farah Vazehan were two prisoners and former supporters of the MKO who were recently released from Evin. Attorney Nasrin Sotudeh and Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi from the Mourning Mothers group; and Mahbubeh Karami a women’s issues activist were also conditionally released when their term ended. Other prisoners more or less take advantage of the prison leaves that are provided. But Bahai prisoners suffer from dual oppression and there were no signs of any flexibility over their situation and lives. Ahmadian said he did not see any leave or any easing of their situation and all of them are deprived of any leave. None of their sentences have been commuted either.

Other Bahai prisoner, Mahvash Shahriyari and Fariba Kamalabadi have been in Evin for over five years each, but have not had a single prison leave. Their requests for prison leave are systematically denied, even though they have health issues. Because of their age and health, what they suffer is harsher than others. Faran Hesami whose spouse is in Rajai Shahr prison in the city of Karaj has a four-year old child who lives with her grandmother. She has not been allowed to visit her child outside prison. The family of these Bahai prisoners also has more difficult conditions For example, Fariba Kamalabadi’s daughter received very good university placement test results, but was denied admission to any university because of her religious beliefs.

Ahmadian said even though the women in the women’s ward come from different backgrounds and ages, they get along well. They read books together and critique them jointly, despite their political differences. Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of the prominent politician, former president and current head of the Expediency Council had written that these women live with minimum tensions and positive connections.

When I asked him about the impact of the change in the political tides in the country since the presidential election and Hassan Rouhani’s victory, Ahmadian said that during the elections campaign a number of the women were given long prison leaves but after the voting, they were asked to return. Since the elections a new hope is in the air among prisoners and their families outside. Mohsen Ejhei’s talk and the remarks of Mr. Alavi, the minister of intelligence about upcoming releases brought more hope. But all of this took place before Mr. Rouhani went to New York earlier this year. But nothing major took place while he was in New York and since his return.

Ahmadian also mentioned the differences that exist between the judiciary and the government on one hand and the attorney general on the other and said that the cost of these differences is paid by the families of political prisoners.