A Revolutionary Court in Tehran charged Varisha Moradi Bagh-y or “armed insurgency,” a very heavy charge which can carry long prison terms and even the death sentence. Varisha Moradi was charged by the 5th Branch of the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Court.
According to Kurdish human rights sources, Varisha Moradi was summoned twice to court and charged with Bagh-y for membership in a Kurdish opposition party. She was transferred from Ward 209 to the women’s ward of Evin Prison after the end of her interrogations on December 26, 2023.
Varisha was abducted on August 1, 2023, in Kermanshah, on her way to Sanandaj in western Iran.
Ms. Moradi has been denied the right to her chosen lawyer and due procedure. She was only allowed to call the lawyer after an indictment was issued.
She has only been allowed to see her family once during her six months of incarceration.
Reports say Varisha spent the first five months of incarceration in solitary confinement in the detention center of the Department of Intelligence in Sanandaj and Ward 209 in Evin Prison where she was viciously tortured to make false confessions against herself.
Varisha Moradi is a women’s rights activist and a member of the Free Women’s Society of Eastern Kurdistan (KJAR). In a September 26 statement addressed to the public, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and international human rights organizations, KJAR said Varisha Moradi was in Kurdistan to carry out “political activities and to organize women.”
Three other political prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison have also been charged with Bagh-y. The three female political prisoners are Marzieh Farsi, Forough Taghipour, and Nasim Gholami Fard. They are accused of collaborating with opposition groups.