Sisters of Imprisoned Activist Atena Daemi Cleared of Revenge Charges Filed by Revolutionary Guards
A court has rejected charges brought by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Courts (IRGC) against Onsieh Daemi and Hanieh Daemi, the sisters of imprisoned civil rights activist Atena Daemi, who had initially filed a complaint against the IRGC.
The sisters had been accused of “insulting the supreme leader” and “deliberate assault” against IRGC agents, but a ruling sent to their home on February 15, 2017 by Branch 3 of the Shahid Moghaddas Court inside Evin Prison in Tehran stated they had been acquitted of all charges,” an informed source told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
“Hosseini Fatahi, Hanieh Daemi’s husband, had been cleared of the same charges earlier,” added the source.
The IRGC brought the case against the sisters after agents from its Sarallah Headquarters claimed they were assaulted while arresting (with a warrant) Atena Daemi at her home on November 26, 2016.
Atena Daemi, who was ultimately transported to Evin Prison that day to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence for her peaceful activism, had complained about the agents’ use of excessive force while arresting her.
She is still facing additional charges that were filed by the IRGC after she made the complaint.
“They acted as if they had come to arrest a dangerous fugitive,” wrote Daemi in a letter from Evin Prison detailing the events of her arrest on November 26. “When I asked them to produce a warrant, they attacked me.”
“One of the agents, who I’m embarrassed to say was a woman, started to beat me,” she added. “Then, when my younger sister tried to intervene, she was beaten on the chest, too.”
Atena Daemi, 29, was arrested on October 21, 2014 by the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization and was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison for meeting the families of political prisoners, criticizing the Islamic Republic on Facebook, and condemning the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners.
