(Montreal) The Iranian prisoner sponsored by Quebec MP Ruba Ghazal has been released, we learned on Monday. Bita Haghani, a young blogger arrested in October, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Mme Ghazal shared on social networks Monday evening a photo of the young woman surrounded by her family, with a bouquet of flowers in her hands.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the member for Mercier specifies that it is difficult to know the reasons for which the Iranian regime decided to pardon her.
“Is it because elected officials from foreign countries have sponsored prisoners that prisoners are released? It is difficult to make a direct link, but what is certain is that the Iranian regime, this violent, totalitarian regime, feels the pressure when it sees that elected officials from the Western world are mobilizing to sponsor these prisoners. she indicates.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Ruba Ghazal, MP for Mercier
Mme Ghazal had sponsored Mme Haghani in December, then the ten other elected representatives of Québec solidaire in turn sponsored Iranians last month.
The aim is to protect these people incarcerated by the Iranian regime, following the wave of protests that began last fall, by circulating their stories on social media.
For the moment, they have no news of the other prisoners, but Mme Ghazal hoped Monday evening to have confirmations “in the next few hours”.
Iran’s supreme leader reportedly ordered an amnesty or reduced prison terms on Sunday for ‘tens of thousands’ of people detained amid anti-government protests rocking the country, acknowledging for the first time the scale of the repression.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decree, part of the pardons the supreme leader grants annually ahead of the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, comes as authorities have yet to specify the number of people detained during the demonstrations.
Member of the Iranian diaspora, Quebecer Sherazad Adib is delighted with the release of Ms.me Haghani, but cautions against the impression the diet can give.
“It’s 100% propaganda. Basically, it’s arresting people unjustly and then forgiving them, ”she says.
Mme Adib, who has been mobilizing since the death of Mahsa Amini in September to support this “second revolution”, recalls that the sponsorship campaigns began in Europe.
“At first, we thought it was going to be very symbolic, (but) I think it was more than symbolic,” she said. […] It had a huge impact by getting their names out and making their stories known and the reasons why these people were arrested and sentenced: (18 years in prison) for blogging or protesting, that’s just nonsense, it doesn’t make sense. »
Several other elected officials, including federal ones, have also announced sponsorships or plan to do so.
In addition, the mobilization continues to denounce the Iranian regime, in place since February 11, 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini established the Islamic Republic. Ali Khamenei succeeded him as head of the country on his death in 1989.
Demonstrations are planned in Quebec and around the world this Saturday, the same day as this anniversary.
Mme Adib recalls that violence is part of the “DNA” of the regime. In particular, she mentions accounts by prisoners of the situation in prisons, and in particular of women who are victims of sexual assault.
Additionally, M.me Ghazal still wants to call on the federal government to have the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) considered a terrorist organization, a request from various groups representing the Iranian diaspora.
With information from The Associated Press.