{"id":256850,"date":"2022-03-15T14:36:09","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=256850"},"modified":"2023-02-04T09:05:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T08:05:16","slug":"iran-media-outlets-should-break-their-silence-regarding-mek-female-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/iran-media-outlets-should-break-their-silence-regarding-mek-female-prisoners\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran: Media Outlets Should Break Their Silence Regarding MEK Female Prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Women-MEK-Iran-15032022-min\"
From left to right: Parastoo Moini, Zahra Safie, Forough Taghipour, Marzieh Farsi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Iranian regime\u2019s mistreatment of women is common knowledge. The misogynous regime in Tehran has sent thousands of Iranian women to gallows, and its agents have physically and psychologically tortured many more and continue harassing women on the streets.<\/p>\n

Peculiarly, many media outlets outside Iran have been quite selective about their reporting about the plight of female political prisoners.<\/p>\n

This fact was highlighted by Leyla Mirghafari, a women\u2019s rights activist, in her interview with Radio Farda on March 11, 2022. In her interview, Mirghafari complains about the lack of media coverage about female political prisoners, mainly those affiliated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq<\/a> (PMOI\/MEK).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should consider the MEK prisoners more than supporters of the monarchy. I shared the cell with Zahra Safaie, Marzieh Farsi, Prastoo Moeini, and Forough Taghipour. They received death threats and were harassed in prison. But since they are MEK supporters, I have not seen much media coverage about their situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne\u2019s political orientation is a key factor for mainstream media to give [the prisoner] appropriate coverage, and this is very damaging,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For years, the Iranian regime has been deploying all the tools at its disposal to demonize its main opposition, the MEK, and skew public opinion. The regime state media have been trying to undermine the MEK\u2019s credibility in a bid to prevent people from joining its ranks. The lack of media coverage of MEK prisoners allows Tehran to continue its crimes against the group\u2019s prisoners in dungeons.<\/p>\n

Zahra Safaie, Marzieh Farsi, Prastoo Moeini, and Forough Taghipour were arrested<\/a> in February 2020.<\/p>\n

Born in 2000, Moini was a computer science student. She is Zahra Safai\u2019s daughter. Ms. Safai spent more than eight years in prison in the 1980s on charges of supporting the MEK. Her father, Hasanali Safaie, was executed in 1981 in the notorious Evin prison on charges of supporting the MEK.<\/p>\n

The regime has charged Moini and her mother, Zahra Safaie, with \u201cCollusion to act against the security of the country by communicating with the Mojahedin and pursuing their goals,\u201d \u201cparticipating in the MEK meetings with her mother,\u201d \u201cspreading propaganda against the system by writing slogans and reading statements and letters,\u201d \u201cinstalling banners in public places\u201d and \u201cdisturbing the public at the MEK behest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forough Taghipour, 28, is also charged with \u201ccollusion with the MEK\u201d and \u201cacting against the state\u2019s security.\u201d Taghipour was arrested along with her mother, Nasim Jabari, in 2020. They are accused of \u201cmembership\u201d in the MEK. Both have been sentenced to five years in prison.<\/p>\n

Zahra Safaei, Parastoo Mo\u2019ini, and Forough Taghipour are serving their prison sentences of eight, six, and five years in Qarchak prison, respectively. Reports from Iran indicate that prison authorities had hired thugs to beat and kill these prisoners by pouring hot boiling water on them.<\/p>\n

In another vicious attack on December 13, 2020, some 20 prison guards attacked the ward of these prisoners and brutalized all of them.<\/p>\n

Marzieh Farsi<\/a>, another political prisoner arrested in 2020, has been in prison without trial. She has been subjected to different kinds of psychological and physical tortures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation may be the same as in 1988,\u201d these were the words of Moini\u2019s interrogator<\/a> in July 2021, referring to the summary execution of over 30,000 MEK supporters in the summer of 1988. He also told Moini that \u201cEven if we let you live, we would do something that you wish you were executed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Is the world aware of what our women and young people endure in the clerical regime\u2019s prisons, such as the Fashafouyeh Penitentiary and torture chamber? #Iran<\/a> #FreeIran<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/IzCrUGIsJa<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/FbPKrrlN7B<\/a><\/p>\n

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) June 29, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n