No Visits, Phone Calls, or Information Says Wife of Political Prisoner

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Narges Mohammadi, the wife of author and political activist Taghi Rahmani expressed concern about her husband’s conditions. “Taghi called home on 28 March. During the one-minute phone call, he greeted me and asked how we were. He said ‘they won’t let me talk’ and said goodbye. For the past several Thursdays, I have been going to Evin Prison to see whether I can visit him, but it has not been possible. We have no news of him, and I’d like to express both my concern and my objection about this situation. I have no news of Taghi’s detention conditions, nor about his case’s judicial process, because we have no contact with each other,” Mohammadi told the Campaign.

“I have gone to the Prosecutor’s Office several times, to no particular end. I mean, I still don’t know the reason for my husband’s arrest, what his situation is, and where in the process his case is. I continue to object to the events that took place during the night of my husband’s arrest. In fact, my first letter to the Prosecutor’s Office was about the way my husband was arrested, the way forces entered my home illegally, and the way they treated me. Breaking the door to a home without a judicial order and snatching someone from his home has no legal justification,” said Mohammadi, who is the spokesperson for the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

“I really hope all the bad events of the past couple of years would come to an end this year. I have two small children. Last year was a hard year for me. First I was arrested, and then my husband. There has been a lot of psychological pressure on my children, and I am not the only one in such circumstances. There are many others like me. I hope to see this conduct corrected through ethical and legal behavior, for us to see better days in Iran and to be able to live our lives. We only want to live peacefully with our families. My children miss their father and they are not old enough for me to explain to them where he is,” said Mohammadi.

Taghi Rahmani, journalist, author, and political activist, has spent one third of his life in prison. He was arrested on 9 February 2011, after security forces broke the door to his home and stormed his residence without a warrant.