Iran – Imprisoned Mothers’ Greatest Fear Is Being Forgotten
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: October 6, 2015
WUNRN
Women News Network
Article page 2 website includes
video.
IRAN – IMPRISONED MOTHERS’ GREATEST
FEAR IS BEING FORGOTTEN
Elahe
Amani with
Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi and her
children Kiani and Ali. Image: Narges Mohammadi
(WNN)
Built in 1971 Evin prison, in
capital city of
where incarceration for prisoners brings with it depression, frustration and
isolation. Prisoners who are mothers often have a secret, and
haunting, fear of ‘being forgotten’ by the children they have left behind at
home.
Imprisonment is not easy in
It impacts women differently than it does men, where impunity can cause women
to face increased fears of sexual advance, violence and intimidation in prison.
Many women prisoners also have specific needs that relate to female health and
psychological trauma. Prisoners who are also mothers have added needs because
of worry about their children.
Worldwide the sentence for mothers in prison may, or may not, include their
children being allowed to stay with them while they are incarcerated. In the
women prisoners may keep their children close during their detention, but until
their child’s fourth birthday. But after this their children must find a place
to stay outside the prison settings.
In
children and babies are rarely allowed to stay with their imprisoned mothers.
An exception is made though for babies up to three months old. This means, even
with a special exception, no child is allowed to stay with their mother past
the first year.
prison law allows children to stay in prison with their mothers up to the age
of seven. In contrast, many women prisoners of conscience in
are not allowed to see or visit their children for weeks following their
arrival in prison. If children and relatives are allowed, they may only come to
see their mother on very limited visits.
In Cape Town, South Africa a new initiative to make mothers in prison and
their children ‘child-friendly’ environments where children and mothers can be
together in a
natural and creative environment. The goal is to keep mother and child
together and happy for at least two years.
With increasing women prisoners in Federal and State prisons, mothers are
often sent to detention facilities that are too far away for their families to
come visit them very often. Inside the
an epidemic of mothers who have been incarcerated in private prisons because of
their ‘illegal status’ as immigrants (most from
or other regions in
to be separated immediately from their mothers while they await
deportation. Some mothers choose instead to wait for the
government to process their legal plea against deportation.
Iran human rights defender Narges Mohammadi
In the middle of the night on June 9, 2010, thirty-nine-year-0ld human
rights advocate Narges Mohammadi was taken away under arbitrary arrest by
security officials as they raided her home. The invasion came without a search
warrant. Mohammadi was then taken away and placed in solitary confinement for
three weeks. This prison confinement was broken only after Narges began
suffering from a debilitating and mysterious condition which still plagues her.
Today, even with hospital visits, she suffers from an undiagnosed ‘epilepsy-like’
disease that causes uncontrolled fainting, paralysis and injury.
A mother’s stress in prison can be overwhelming. “The rights of mothers and
children to family life require special consideration,” says a handbook on good
prison management by the International Centre for Prison Studies, which works
with experts in human rights and prison reform. “Punishment [in prison] shall
not include a total prohibition on family contact,” emphasizes the handbook.
“In most societies women have primary responsibility for the family,
particularly when there are children involved. This means that when a woman is
sent to prison the consequences for the family which is left behind can be very
significant,” added the report.
Mohammadi, as an incarcerated prisoner of conscience, was charged with
“assembly and collusion against national security” in
as well as “propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic regime.” In
preliminary court proceedings she was sentenced to eleven years in prison, a
sentence that was reduced in February 2012 to six years in prison.
Today as a mother of twin children Narges is exceptionally vulnerable. So
are her children.
Her son Ali, and his sister Kiani, are now six-years-old with a mother who
has been an active in
human rights movement since her early days in college. Born in 1972, only one
year after Evin prison was built in
graduated with a degree in physics and engineering from
175 miles northwest of
For her work as an advocate, in 2009 Narges was honored in Bolzano,
Italy with an Alexander Langer award, but she was unable to attend the ceremony
due to a ban placed against her against travel made outside of Iran.
In her place, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi accepted
Narges’ award in
“In recognition of her bravery in advocating for human rights, specifically in
defense of the rights of students, women and other civil society activists”
Mohammadi was honored with standing applause as she telephoned Ebadi during the
event.
“If one day we realize the goals of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights, that will be a day of victory for human kind. If one day, humans
can, without fear, insecurity, prison or death, express their beliefs and
thoughts, and through peaceful means set out to publish those beliefs,
authoritarianism will be undermined. But until that day, all those who hope for
freedom will have a difficult road ahead,” added Narges in 2009.
In 2008, as a spokesperson and deputy head of
Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), Mohammadi faced specific and
increasing danger. She was later brought before the 4th
Court
in May 2009 as the result of her membership
in the DHRC. After her defense and a $40,000 (USD) bond was made, Narges was
then temporarily released from her charges, but the dangers for her as a
women’s rights and human rights defender did not subside.
“I am a human being, a mother, a wife,
how much more of this pain and suffering must I go through.”
–
officials
Defenders of
The Defenders of Human Rights Center in
was formed through the combined efforts of five top Iranian human rights
attorneys, including founding member and former judge Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Created in part to monitor and provide pro-bono
legal services, as well as represent cases where human rights protection under
the law was at stake inside the region, the DHRC was threatened then completely
closed-down by an Iran government office ‘lock-out’ in December 2008.
Narges Mohammadi’s sentence specifically mentions her “membership of the
DHRC” as one of the ‘illegal charges’ that has put Narges in prison. A growing
number of attorneys connected to the DHRC are also now in prison.
“…what hope is more powerful than the human chain across the world, where
individuals from all corners of the world, act in solidarity to support one
another,” said Mohammadi in response to her 2009 Alexander Langer award. “No
longer can governments, with the excuse of national sovereignty, erect a wall
around the peoples of their nations, and with the same excuse, treat their
citizens as they please and view any voice of objection from around the world
as an act of interference in their internal affairs.”
Celebrating her 12 year old birthday without her
mother (incarcerated human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh who is now serving a
six year sentence) daughter Mahreveh and her brother Nima slice birthday cake
with their father Reza Khandan. The family had prepared and hoped to celebrate
Mahreveh’s birthday with a visit to their mother in Evin prison, but the
visitation was blocked by prison security. Image: Nasrin Sotoudeh Facebook
Members of the DHRC staff have faced excessive fines, harassment,
intimidation and arbitrary detentions, as well as extended sentences in prison.
Some have left the country to find asylum. Others, like human rights attorney
and mother, Nasrin
Sotoudeh, have been banned the Iranian justice system from working in their
field as legal counsel for the next 20 years. Sotoudeh is also a mother. She is
also currently living in Evin prison under a ‘difficult’ six year sentence
which has included hunger strikes, sickness and interrogations.
Both Nasrin Sotoudeh and Nagres Mohammadi do not have proper access to their
children as women prisoners in
“My dear Mehrvaeh and Nima,” said Nasrin in a letter to her children written
from prison.
“I love you both very much. I wish you happiness and prosperity, like any
other parent. I consider you first in every decision I make. One needs to
consider the welfare of children in every decision. Receiving visits from you
is very important to me. I suffer from not having held you for months. I am in
pain from not hearing your voices,” Sotoudeh continued.
Marginalization of women prisoners
“The authorities in
are doing their utmost to marginalise human rights defenders by imposing heavy
sentences of imprisonment, exile, and ban on professional practice,” said
Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of OMCT – World Organization Against
Torture, in a recent
joint March 2012 statement with FIDH – the International Federation for Human
Rights. “Prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners are consistently
subjected to torture and other ill treatment as well as the death penalty. All
this is aimed to intimidating the whole society into a deadly silence,” added
OMCT Secretary General Staberock.
We can try to talk to the mothers, but what happens to the children of women
prisoners in
What happens to children when one or both parents are detained or imprisoned?
Despite clear and permanent harmful impacts on a child, this subject has
received little attention worldwide.
“The legal rights of children under international law have been developing
since 1919, with both regional and global treaties safeguarding their
interests. Yet many of these rights, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights
of the Child and other texts, are put at risk when a parent is imprisoned,”
says the Quaker UNO – United Nations Office in
“One needs to consider the welfare of
children in every decision.”
– Nasrin Sotoudeh,
incarcerated human rights attorney
Imprisonment worldwide most often includes limitations to human rights,
especially in
It also includes undue and what some advocates call ‘unwarranted’ harm to the
children of parents who have been imprisoned.
“My young children have been left with painful memories, memories and
visions that affect them at night, in their dreams,” said Narges in an official
letter of complaint made to government officials in Iran following an arrest of
her husband, Taghi
Rahmani, who was a Human Rights Watch Hellman-Hammet award winner in 1980.
Often prisoners of conscience are separated from family members as a tactic
of intimidation and breakdown. In April 2011 Iranian authorities “blocked
Narges Mohammadi from contacting her husband Taghi Rahmani in prison,” said the
International Campaign for Human Rights in
in a news
podcast.
Today the children of Narges Mohammadi and Taghi Rahmani are without both
their mother and their father. Narges is now serving her full sentence. There
father and activist Taghi is currently living in asylum in
Without mother or father the children are now staying with their paternal
grandmother. But they cannot see or reach their parents when they need them
most.
“I remember one night my children could not fall asleep, they were both
speaking in their dreams… Earlier that night they had witnessed the security
officers come to our home and scream obscenities and indignities on Taghi,”
Mohammadi said. “I remember [my son] little Ali was walking around the house
and muttered to himself…. Get out of my house…. Leave my father alone,” Narges
continued. “After they finally took Taghi, my little girl, Kiana spread out on
the cold mosaic tiles of the foyer and as tears streamed down her face she
asked for her father. I was helpless and like a stone statue gazed at my
four-year‐old daughter, not knowing what to do… I am a
human being, a mother, a wife, how much more of this pain and suffering must I
go through.”
Children with parents who are prisoners of conscience are particularly
affected negatively when they witness injustice; especially as they feel unable
to rescue or help the parent who has been affected by court decisions outside
of their control. Often parents who are prisoners, especially prisoners of
conscience, feel great frustration and guilt in not being able to help their
children who are left without them and the daily comfort of a parent’s
presence.
“When Kiana was born I underwent a C-‐ section. I had many
stitches on my stomach but the warmth of Kiana’s little precious body pressed
against mine healed my wounds,” shared Mohammadi in a ‘heart-felt’ letter given
to Iranian government officials quoting her experience as a mother. “When Kiana
was only 3 years old she had to undergo surgery on her
stomach and she too had many stitches
that needed to be cared for and
healed. I was her mother and
it was my duty to care for her and nurse her back to health but I was
arrested and taken to prison. I was not there to care for her and heal her as
she had healed me,” added Mohammadi.
“The Iranian Government wants to break peoples’ spirits, they want to set an
example”, explained Christy Fujio, former immigration attorney and Asylum
Program Director for Physicians for Human Rights,
“They do this overtly through torture, but they also do it more subtly by
denying care and allowing people to suffer from their injuries.”
“The suffering caused by enforced disappearances, prolonged solitary
confinement and other ill treatment and lengthy prison terms does not stop at
the prison gate,” says Amnesty International. Family members of those who are
imprisoned suffer from conditions of long term anxiety, depression and fear.
These symptoms are especially severe for women and their families, especially
the children.
“We have to speak of hope and love…,” said Narges Mohamaddi in response to
her award in 2009. “Everyone has the right to Freedom of Speech and Thought:
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,” she added.
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