Detention of cultural association leader and language teacher Zara Mohammadi in Iran
14.3.2022
Priority question for written answer P-000988/2022
to the Council
Rule 138
Nikolaj Villumsen (The Left)
Zara Mohammadi, a 31-year-old Kurdish language teacher and director of the Nûjîn cultural association in the city of Sanandaj, has been sentenced to five years in prison in Iran, accused of posing a threat to the security of the country.
The Iranian authorities initially arrested Ms Mohammadi in her home city of Sanandaj on 23 May 2019 on charges of endangering national security by teaching in Kurdish, her mother tongue. She was released on bail six months later on 2 December 2019. On Saturday, 8 January 2022, Zara Mohammadi was detained once again by the Iranian authorities. She was sentenced to five years in prison.
Amnesty International has criticised the sentence and called for her to be released ‘immediately and unconditionally as she is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for her peaceful civil society activism’.
In the light of the foregoing:
- 1.What steps have already been taken and what steps will be taken to bring about the immediate release of Zara Mohammadi by the Iranian authorities?
- 2.In the light of this and similar cases, to what extent will the Council sanction persons with links to the Iranian regime who are responsible for human rights violations?