Translator in Prison for One Year Without Knowing Charges; Her Lawyer Denied Access to Case File

Translator Marjan Davari has been held in Evin Prison’s Women’s Ward for almost a year without knowing the formal charges against her and while being denied proper legal counsel and medical treatment, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned.

“September 23 [2016] will be a year since Ms. Davari was detained,” a source told the Campaign. “She has not been put on trial and the charges against her are unclear. Her lawyer has not been allowed to read her case file, and his requests to get her released on bail have not been accepted.”

Davari was arrested at her father’s home on September 23, 2015 in Karaj, west of Tehran. She was initially held in solitary confinement for three months in Evin Prison’s Ward 209, which is controlled by the Intelligence Ministry, before being transferred to the Women’s Ward. She is suffering from severe pain in the joints of her legs, but has not received sufficient medical treatment in prison, according to the source.

“She was a translator and published several books, mostly about psychology, mysticism and metaphysics. She was also a teacher at the Rah-e Ma’refat (Road of Wisdom) Institute, which was officially registered and operated legally under the ownership of her husband, Karim Zargar. In March 2015 Ms. Davari got a divorce and left the institute, but six months later they arrested her husband and then herself, and charged them in connection with their translation and teaching activities,” added the informed source.

The Islamic Republic takes a dim view of alternative spiritual faiths or activities, often prosecuting its adherents.

Davari, 50, has a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts from Al-Zahra University in Tehran. She has translated a number of English books on Eckankar, a religion founded by American Paul Twitchell in 1965, including Talons of Time, The Seeker, and The Spiritual Exercises of ECK.