A group of UN rights experts calls on Iran to immediately release jailed activist and journalist Narges Mohammadi, reportedly ill with the novel coronavirus, warning her life is at stake.
“The Iranian authorities must act now before it is too late,” the 16 independent experts say in a statement, expressing grave concern that Mohammadi appeared to have contracted COVID-19 in Zanjan Prison in north-western Iran.
Mohammadi, 48, is a campaigner against the death penalty and was spokeswoman for the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran — founded by lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi — when she was arrested in May 2015. The mother of two is serving a 10-year prison sentence for “forming and managing an illegal group,” among other charges.
In this Monday, June 9, 2008, photo, Iranian Narges Mohammadi listens to a question during a press conference on the Assessment of the Human Rights Situation in Iran, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland (Magali Girardin/Keystone via AP)
The rights activist, who suffers from a lung condition, already requested temporary release from prison for medical treatment last month.
— AFP
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