Amnesty says Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi was arrested on 5 May. She is on trial for charges stemming from her human rights activities. She is a prisoner of conscience.

Human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, was arrested at her home on the morning of 5 May after security forces threatened to break down her front door if she did not open it. She was subsequently taken to Tehran’s Evin Prison. Two days before her arrest, she appeared at the first session of her trial before Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on national security-related charges, including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion against national security.” Before her arrest, Narges Mohammadi told Amnesty International that the charges against her stem solely from her peaceful human rights activism. She stated that this included giving media interviews; gathering outside prisons prior to executions to support the families of death row prisoners; her connections with other human rights activists, and her March 2014 meeting with Catherine Ashton, the then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Narges Mohammadi’s lawyers were not allowed to see her case file before the start of her trial.
Narges Mohammadi also faces the charge of “membership of an illegal organization whose aim is to harm national security” for her founding of Step by Step to Stop Death Penalty, a group campaigning against the death penalty in Iran.
Narges Mohammadi was previously imprisoned in April 2012 and released in July 2012 after being granted temporary medical leave to obtain medical treatment for an existing health condition, which was exacerbated by her imprisonment. Narges Mohammadi has suffered from seizures and temporary loss of vision.