Watchdog

A prominent Iranian human rights advocate, Narges Mohammadi, and photojournalist Alieh Motalebzadeh have received death threats while in prison amid a worsening situation for political prisoners on the whole, a lawyer for one of the two women said.

Mostafa Nili, Mohammadi's lawyer, told Emtedad in an interview on May 31 that a prisoner convicted of murder in Qarchak prison had sent threatening messages to both women saying, "I will kill you and I will become famous for this."

Pointing out that this prisoner had no "previous problems or conflicts" with Mohammadi and Motalebzadeh, Nili said that the threatening of political prisoners by ordinary prisoners without "any history of controversy" seemed "suspicious."

The lawyer said the attempt to provoke clashes with those in the regular prisoner population had been accompanied by an increase in "obscenities and threats" from others in front of the political prison ward in recent days.

Nili referred to the "deteriorating security of political prisoners in Gharchak prison" and said their situation "has become dangerous."

Prison authorities have yet to respond to his queries about the issues political prisoners are facing at the institution, he added.

The two women were briefly released from prison for medical attention before being forced to return in April.

A journalist and an engineer, Mohammadi was arrested in November 2021 after she attended the memorial of a man killed by Iranian security forces during nationwide protests in November 2019.

In late January, a court sentenced her to another eight years and two months in prison, as well as 74 lashes.

Motalebzadeh was transferred from the Evin prison to Qarchak in January in what was seen as punishment for holding a ceremony to commemorate the death of human rights defender Baktash Abtin, who died from COVID-19 complications.

A court in Belarus has sentenced an activist who assisted Belarusians facing persecution flee to Lithuania to 4 1/2 years in prison.

A court in the town of Shchuchyn in the western region of Hrodna sentenced Yauhen Buynitski on May 31 after finding him guilty of illegally crossing the state border in a group. The court also ordered Buynitski to pay a 3,520-ruble ($1,040) fine.

Buynitski was arrested in August 2021 for assisting Belarusians cross the border into Lithuania in the wake of Minsk's crackdown on dissent following mass protests against the official results of an August 2020 presidential poll that handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term.

The Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

Buynitski is one of many Belarusians who have faced multiple charges linked to the mass protests against Lukashenka following the controversial presidential election, which the opposition says was rigged.

Thousands have been arrested and much of the opposition leadership has been jailed or forced into exile.

Several protesters have been killed and there have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.

Belarusian authorities have also shut down several nongovernmental organizations and independent media outlets.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the ensuing crackdown.