Critically ill human rights defender on hunger strike. She needs your help now.
Narges Mohammadi, prominent Iranian human rights defender and mother of two is critically ill - languishing in a Tehran prison for peacefully defending human rights.
Narges is serving a 16-year sentence for absurd charges including "spreading propaganda against the system" through her human rights work.
Narges' hunger strike started on 27 June, to protest the authorities' refusal to allow her to speak with her children on the phone. Since July 2015, she has only been allowed one phone call with them.
She writes: "I have forgotten their voices. I don't keep their photos by my bed any more. I can't look at them...[the authorities] have regarded me being a human rights defender a crime but more painful than that is that they have also denied my womanhood and mother hood. Until the day I die and fall silent. I will continue protesting and I will never forget."
Your Excellency,
I call on you to quash Narges Mohammadi's conviction and sentence and release her immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Please ensure that Narges Mohammadi is immediately granted ongoing access to adequate specialised medical care outside prison and that she is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, which the denial of medical care can amount to.
Please also allow her regular contact with a lawyer of her choosing and visits and phone calls from her family, including her children.
[Your comments here]
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
