Sara Mottaghi is a 26 year old poet, book-seller, and MA-holder of Political Sciences, from Rasht; as reported by HRA, the Iranian human rights news agency, she has been arrested on Feb. 28, 2023; an informed source has disclosed to this news organization that she “she was arrested and transferred to Lakan Prison in Rasht, after being summoned by and making presence in the 10th division of the Interrogation Unit of the Public Persecution Office in Rasht,” “she was summoned due to her story about the importance of celebrating Sepandarmazgan [the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian day of women] as the official day of women in Iran, which was interpreted by the intelligence division as an insult to the Shiite historical religious figures,” added the same source. Before this incident, in the year 2020, in the 14th Fajr Poetry Festival [a state-run annual art event], she was among the five nominated and prized poets; in reaction to this event, however, certain notorious security-backed media such as “Jahan News,” which is known for its psychological warfare, propaganda and case-fabrication against citizens under the guise of journalistic work, harshly criticized her nomination with the pretext that “in social networks, she has expressed her hatred for the regime, and made a laughing stock out of Soleimani’s daughter [the general assassinated in Iraq by the US air raid in the same year], while drawing a comparison between Muhammad, the prophet’s daughter, with Farah Diba [the last monarchical queen of Iran].” Prior to her arrest and during the current protests in Iran, nevertheless, she was met with certain pressures such as the confiscation of her mobile phone and being summoned for persecutions for the charge of blasphemy against the daughter of the prophet of Islam, and by the attendance of three security polices in her place, in Rasht, on Jan. 15, 2023; as reported on the official website of Melli-Mazhabi (Nationalist Religious Party) website, the basis for this charge was the content of a number of stories by this poet on her own Instagram account about the significance of Sepandarmazgan, and the possibility of its being declared as women’s day, and also the opportunity to internationalize this particular celebratory day with regard to its calendar positioning between Valentine and 8th of March (International Women’s Day); however, she has denied such a charge. After her first attendance in the 10th division of Interrogation Unit of the Public Persecution Office of the Revolutionary Court, in Rasht, without the legal proceedings of arraignment and defense statement collection, they required her to submit a guarantor with a salary check; yet still, in her next attendance, where she made presence along with her guarantor, they required her to meet a bail, without declaring its total sum. Nevertheless, she frequented the Persecution Office for a number of times along with her bail guarantor, but they did not proceed her case, and eventually she was told to attend there in the absence of her guarantor since she was going to get arrested and thus no bail accepted. On Feb. 14, while she attended the Persecution Office in the company of her father, four agents from the 7th division of the Assistant Persecution Office went to her house to place her under arrest. In her next attendance she made in the Persecution Office, on Feb. 22, she was told that a case with the same charge has been referred to them by Tehran’s intelligence division of IRGC against her. It is worth mentioning that she had had a former encounter with the interrogator of the 10th division of this Persecution Office before; the encounter in question included her being charged with the release of an illegal call for a funerary gathering at the third night of the death of Hooshang Ebtehaj, with the nom de plume, Sayeh, [the Iranian prominent neoclassical poet] (which was simply posting a story on Instagram inviting people to collectively light candles and recite his verses at his grave, taken place out of public sympathy and the spontaneous attendance of people and the poet’s family), and being charged with the “distribution of obscenity” (posting some content online after Zhina (Mahsa) Amini was state-murdered, taking position against mandatory hijab), which resulted in her overnight arrest and then her release, followed by her persecutor calling her in person on Oct. 2022, ordering her to delete her Instagram post containing the image of a piece of chocolate with a “Woman, Life, Freedom,” related slogan reading: “Mind your hair locks, O compatriot!” At any case, a fully detailed account of these developments written by herself and published on the aforesaid website can be read verbatim below – and a worthwhile read indeed since it clearly suggests how profoundly dysfunctional the entire bureaucracy of suppression has become in Iran, an account highly resonating with the open letter the time-honored political prison, Keyvan Samimi, who was recently released from his latest imprisonment published last year, on his exile to Semnan Prison, at 73, in which he writes: “the whole country is run tribally, any authority has his own say and considers his own interests, the center cannot hold and sectarianism is evidently seen everywhere, all conducive to how decayed the inter-organizational or even intra-organizational relations are, and such a fragile cobweb can be torn apart with a few beats.” In any event, her account holds a life-size mirror before the visage of the suppression of the cultural community in Iran; a suppression so aimless and comprehensive that various security and judiciary organizations fabricate cases against the same poet, and with uttermost confusion, parallel operation, and bureaucratic dysfunction, and at the expense of violating the most basic civil rights of a poet, entrapping her in a perpetual purgatory, where they ruin her life in a Kafkaesque trial: “On Jan. 14, 2023, I woke up to a warning call by the Security Police of Rasht, about having made an insult against the daughter of the prophet of Islam online. This was while it only had been two days since my return from Tehran, and it was expected that I went back to Tehran around Jan. 21, to get back on a job, and at night, I would frequent a medical center out of low pressure, being half-dead. In the morning of Jan. 15, I woke up to the presence of three agents from the Security Police, in my father’s place. They had a legal warrant, confiscated my mobile phone and summoned me for persecution. Persecutions were conducted with verbal assaults. Since I did not have my phone at my own disposal, I could not be informed about having been announced to attend the Persecution Office. After the supreme leader’s public pardon was issued, I attended the Persecution Office (10th Interrogation Division). Without giving any arraignment, the interrogator quickly asked: “Do you have a guarantor with you? I want to send you to prison!” I was standing in shock, wondering “a guarantor for what? Have I been heard giving my defense?” For a story not longer than a few lines, about the necessity of celebrating Sepandarmazgan as women’s day, and the opportunity to internationalize it given its calendar positioning between Valentine’s Day and 8th of March, how could this be counted as an insult??? I asked the interrogator about the supreme leader’s public pardon, he dictated that this pardon does not include me, while I had no private complainant, and had committed none of the crimes excluded from the supreme leader’s public pardon! Nevertheless, the interrogator told my father that I had mental issues. Regarding this very dictation of his, I asked him given his diagnosis of me being mental, how would it justify my imprisonment? He dictated in reply that if I wished, he could sent me to Shafa Mental Hospital, instead of prison…he then directed me away to his office manager. The office manager dictated me to bring a guarantor along with either a salary check or business license…then dictated me to go to one of the PAVA [Public Security Police] officers. When there, I realized I was such a known name that even though they had not met me in person, they had heard my name. As if, the big hooligan of the block was taken to the police office! I attended the Persecution Office once again. While I was in wait by the 10th division to be arraigned, someone rather dazzled was looking for me. The story was that an identical case with the same charge was at the 7th division of the Assistant Persecution Office ass well…and at the same time that I was present in the Persecution Office, four agents had gone to our house to place me under arrest by the 7th division of the Assistant Persecution Office. Their unsettling presence and voila! My mother starting to suffer from optical complications caused by such a mental pressure on the same day! The 7th division of the Assistant Persecution Office was decided to refer the case to the main 10th division of the Persecution Office. After four times of brining a guarantor along with some billion Toman worth of bail, today, on Feb. 22, 2023, the case interrogator dictated that he would not accept any bail from me, but rather refer to him on Saturday, and would be under arrest afterwards! Hearsays suggested that this case is fabricated by the order of the chief manager of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Gilan Province, and by the order of the Security Police, needless to say. I had just come back to Rasht for a couple of days, and was supposed to go back to Tehran to start me job by January’s final third. The implementation of this case prevented me from returning to Tehran, hence my unemployment, especially given the Great Depression style economic conditions of Iran these days and unemployment, a cherry on top! What was putting my mind at unrest was being summoned in Rasht for the third time in the last six months, while I was much more in Tehran then being in Rasht during this time, which is common knowledge, and case-fabricators must know that too! In this latest attendance, I also realized that the same charge has been attributed to me by the Tehran intelligence division of IRGC and its proceedings assigned to the same division. The first time, in the summer of this year, three days since Hooshang Ebtehaj passed away, by the order of the 10th division of the Interrogation Office, the Security Police of Rasht summoned me and charged me calling for an illegal funerary gathering. It was a no-brainer that I would reject this charge and even find it laughable. A story inviting to recite poetry and light candle at this poet’s grave, followed by the decision and agreement and collaboration of some other poets, and resulted in the presence of his family and friends and a participation more populated night after night, and Sarah Mottaghi was but one among many people there, how on earth could this be taken for such a charge! Nevertheless, this summon ended with a talk. After the beginning of current protests, the Security Police had three warning calls unanswered on my own phone and two answered ones on my father’s. These calls were warnings about my activities online…however, in the evening of Sept. 25, 2022, three agents of the Security Police came to our house, and took me and my mobile phone with themselves. After an overnight arrest. The interrogator of the 10th division released me and about a month after that, the case was closed with an order of the suspension of persecution. What was strange was that all those phases of interrogation and arraignment were centered on a post that I had already removed from my account after PAVA’s contact with my father! Another time, on Oct., when I was in Tehran, the interrogator of the pertinent division in Rasht contacted me in person over having published the image of a chocolate with a piece of paper (reading: “Mind your hair locks, O compatriot!”) about which I gave the explanation that a lady, gave this gift to me, being a lady myself, on a women’s wagon, in Tehran subway; he then dictated me to remove it and I did the same. I could not wrap my head around its criminal aspect indeed, but followed the order anyway. Thus, my recent case, which is anticipated to result in my bail-free arrest, is the fourth encounter of this division with me. Since Jan. 14 to this date, my mobile phone has been under the confiscation of the Security Police. My Instagram page is taken out of my reach and even its backup email is changed until the time that mobile phone is returned to me by the order of the interrogator. All this said, there has been no sentence announced to me barring me from using Instagram. After six months of struggle with charges none of which admissible to me, I believe it’s only natural that I feel worn out with all this time wasted, all the things left undone, and the possibility of arrest and prison! For this reason, I set up this page temporarily so that some people might have heard me and be my voice in critical circumstances if they wish so. I can’t accept that in a world in which lumpens are earsplittingly loud, and after having to endure years of inadmissible reports against myself, I see all this result in my arrest as well and still even I remain silent all way through! That’s it and yours…”
