Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Iran: Narges Mohammadi, Other Detainees Need Urgent Medical Care Human Rights
UN human rights experts today expressed alarm that Iran continues to deny human rights defender Narges Mohammadi and other detainees access to timely and adequate medical care despite repeated appeals to the country’s authorities.
“Our deep concerns about Narges Mohammadi’s physical and mental health have been conveyed to the Iranian government,” the experts said.
“We once again call on the Iranian authorities to immediately release her and ensure that she, like other detainees, has immediate access to adequate medical care,” they added.
According to medical experts, Mohammadi had been suffering from acute back pain caused by a herniated disc for the past eight months.
Mohammadi was also reportedly physically assaulted during an incident in the women’s ward of Evin Prison on August 6, 2024. She lost consciousness and suffered injuries to her chest and other parts of her body.
Following the incident, Mohammadi demanded to see her lawyer to file a complaint about the physical abuse and to have her injuries examined forensically. Both requests were reportedly denied by prison authorities.
“The denial of medical care appears to be used to punish Mohammadi and silence her,” the experts said.
“The provision of medical care to prisoners, as well as the obligation not to subject prisoners to ill-treatment, is the responsibility of the state,” they stressed, recalling that Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Prisoners have the right to the same health care available to other members of society, the experts noted.
Read also:
UN human rights activists accuse Iranian authorities of repression against minorities
They pointed to the practice of ill-treatment of Iranian detainees, including the denial of access to adequate medical care.
“We are equally concerned about the fate of Fatemeh Sepehri, Mahmoud Mehrabi, Davoud Razavi, Hassan Saeedi and Reza Shahabi Zakaria, who have been denied access to adequate medical care despite medical tests and reports indicating the urgency of their cases,” the experts said.
“We reiterate our calls for the immediate release of the human rights defenders and all others currently held arbitrarily in Iranian detention,” they concluded.
The statement was issued by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mai Sato, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, and a number of other independent UN human rights defenders.
Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.