Iranian prisoner sponsored by Quebec MNA released

The Iranian prisoner sponsored by Quebec MNA Ruba Ghazal has been released, it was learned Monday.

Bita Haghani, a young blogger arrested in October, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Ghazal shared a photo on social networks on Monday evening of the young woman surrounded by her family, with a bouquet of flowers in her hands.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, the Quebec Solidaire (QS) MNA for Mercier said it was difficult to know why the Iranian regime decided to pardon her.

"Is it because elected officials from foreign countries have sponsored prisoners that the 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 mobilising to sponsor these prisoners," she said.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ruba Ghazal (@rubaghazalqs)

Ghazal sponsored Haghani in December, and the other 10 QS elected representatives sponsored Iranians last month.

The aim is to protect these people imprisoned by the Iranian regime following the wave of demonstrations that began last autumn by circulating their stories on social networks.

For the moment, they have no news of the other prisoners, but Ghazal hoped on Monday evening to have confirmation in the next few hours.

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday reportedly ordered an amnesty or reduction in prison sentences for "tens of thousands" of people detained in connection with the anti-government protests rocking the country, acknowledging for the first time the scale of the crackdown.

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 in the protests.

A member of the Iranian diaspora, Sherazad Adib of Quebec, welcomed Haghani's release but warned against the impression the regime may give.

"It's 100 per cent propaganda. Basically, it's arresting people unjustly and then forgiving them," she said.

Adib, who has been protesting since the death of Mahsa Amini in September to support the second revolution, added 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's had a huge effect in getting their names out there and getting their stories out there and why these people were arrested and convicted: (18 years in prison) for blogging or protesting, it's just nonsense, it doesn't make sense."

Several other elected officials, including federal ones, have also announced sponsorships or are planning to do so.

In addition, the mobilization continues to denounce the Iranian regime, in place since Feb. 11, 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini established the Islamic Republic. Ali Khamenei succeeded him as head of the country when he died in 1989.

Demonstrations are planned in Quebec and around the world this Saturday, the same day as the anniversary.

Adib said violence is part of the regime's DNA. She mentioned accounts from prisoners about the situation in prisons, especially women, who were sexually assaulted.

In addition, Ghazal still wants to call on the federal government to consider the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, a request from various groups representing the Iranian diaspora.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 7, 2023.