Status of Detained Honours Student Mitra Aali

RAHANA

Mitra Aali completed her BA at Amir Kabir University in Tehran. While a student, Aali was an activist and editor-in-chief of Simorgh Magazine, a publication by the university’s Islamic Student Association. Upon completing her BA and ranking seventh in the entrance exam, Aali was admitted to the master’s program at Sharif University. She was allowed to enroll only after she agreed to refrain from political activities.

During the course of her studies, Aali was summoned once by Sharif University’s disciplinary committee. On another occasion, she was interrogated by intelligence agents in the basement of the university’s security office.

During the disputed presidential election in 2009, Aali worked for the Karroubi campaign. On June 14, 2009, two days after the election, she was arrested when her house was raided by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence. She was released a day later after being interrogated at the investigations office of the Ministry of Intelligence.

On December 7, 2009, following a Student Day gathering at the university campus, agents attempted unsuccessfully to arrest the student activist, who was not present at the time of the raid. Two months later, on February 10, 2010, Aali was arrested again at her home by plainclothes agents, who also seized her personal belongings. She was released five days later to a third party custodian.

A few days before Norooz, and as she was preparing her thesis paper, Aali was contacted by her interrogators. She was asked to report to the investigations office to retrieve her seized belongings. She was arrested upon arrival on March 10, 2010 and taken to the notorious ward 209 in Evin prison. Since then, Aali has only called her family once and with her interrogator present.

During the brief phone call, Aali was not able to talk about her charges or her condition. According to prisoners who have recently been released from ward 209, the student activist remains in solitary confinement and is under heavy pressure by the interrogators. Her family’s repeated visits to the Revolutionary Court have proven fruitless, and judicial authorities refuse to provide any explanation for the detention.

Despite a written order by the case magistrate, the interrogators have instructed Evin officials to prevent the family from visiting their daughter. The cancellation of prison visits and her ongoing detention has led to fears that she is being mistreated by her interrogators.

Translation: RAHANA | Persian2English.com