Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi and other women inmates in Tehran's Evin prison were injured earlier this week in clashes that erupted after a spate of executions, Mohammadi’s family says.
Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, said Mohammadi suffered breathing problems and severe chest pain after being punched in the chest and was transferred to the prison's clinic.
Rahmani, who spoke by phone to RFE/RL from Paris, said several women came under attack by guards during the clashes on August 6. Mohammadi was hit in her chest, and her arm was bruised, he said.
The injured women were later taken to the prison clinic for treatment and were returned to their ward.
Rahmani said the news agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed the clash was a riot, but he said it should be made clear that it was a protest in which the women in Evin prison chanted in the prison yard against the death penalty.
He added that he and the rest of Mohammadi’s family were worried about her health especially because she was hit in the chest. Mohammadi had surgery for blocked arteries in 2022.
Rahmani added that Mohammadi, who is renowned as a staunch advocate for the Women, Life, Freedom movement, cannot contact her sister in Iran and she hasn’t been allowed to contact her children for 2 1/2 years. She also has had no contact with her lawyer.
"These restrictions make all of us worried about her situation in that ward where other women are also facing difficult conditions," Rahmani told RFE/RL.
Before Rahmani spoke with RFE/RL, Mohammadi's family issued a statement about the clash on August 8. It said several women who stood in front of the security forces were severely beaten.
It said the women in Evin prison had been actively protesting against executions in Iran, and following the execution of Reza Rasaei, several prisoners gathered in the prison yard to voice their dissent, chanting slogans against the death penalty.
SEE ALSO: Iran Executes Protester After Conviction In 'Grossly Unfair' TrialOne woman suffered a nervous breakdown and passed out and another prisoner also fainted from the emotional strain, the statement said, adding that Mohammadi and several other prisoners protested against the locked doors that were preventing the critically ill inmates from being taken to the prison clinic.
Iranian authorities acknowledged a confrontation took place on August 6 but blamed Mohammadi for a "provocation" and denied any of the prisoners had been beaten.
Two prisoners "had heart palpitations due to the stress," but medical examinations determined that their general condition "is favorable," Iran's prison administration said in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Mohammadi, 52, has been campaigning for human rights in Iran for decades and has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years. She has been convicted five times since March 2021 and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for "spreading propaganda" against the Islamic republic.
The executions that took place this week drew outrage from rights groups. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said 29 people were executed at two prisons in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj on August 7 alone.
SEE ALSO: Executions In Iran Show No Sign Of Letting Up As 36 Hanged In 2 DaysRasaei, 34, was the 10th man executed by Iran in connection with the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests that erupted after the death of a woman in police custody. The Iranian judiciary said Rasaei was executed on August 6.