The mother of three brothers who are imprisoned in Iran for participating in that country’s 2018 protests says the brothers were tortured.
Bahieh Namjoo, the mother of Navid, Vahid and Habib Afkari, sent a recorded video to BBC Persian highlighting the cases of her three sons. Navid received a “double death sentence” for allegedly killing a police officer during the 2018 protests. Vahid was sentenced to 54 years in prison, and Habib was sentenced to 27 years. All of the brothers have also been sentenced to 74 lashes.
In the video, Namjoo said that two years ago authorities arrested Navid and Vahid. After three months, authorities also arrested the third brother, Habib. Namjoo believes Habib’s efforts to get his brothers released are what led to his arrest.
According to Namjoo, all three brothers were tortured during their imprisonment. Navid’s hand was broken, and Habib’s hands and legs were broken. She also claims that Vahid was psychologically tortured, which led to him attempting to take his own life twice. He was hospitalized due to these attempts and had surgery on his neck. Namjoo said that her husband and son-in-law were also arrested eventually.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.