Quebec Solidaire MNAs sponsor political prisoners in Iran

Quebec Solidaire finance critic Ruba Ghazal comments on the provincial budget speech, Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

In an attempt to save them from the death penalty, 11 Iranian political prisoners are now being symbolically sponsored by Quebec MNAs. Quebec Solidaire (QS) elected members announced Saturday that they would participate in the act of solidarity.

QS Mercier MNA Ruba Ghazal got the ball rolling in December, revealing that she was the godmother of Bita Haghani, a young blogger arrested in October.

For taking part in protests, Haghani was accused of "earthly corruption" and faced the death penalty. She was eventually sentenced to 18 years in prison, which could mean five years behind bars, according to her lawyer.

"People from the (Iranian) community told me that the fact that I sponsored her, I know that there is a senator in France who sponsored her... In the end, it may have saved her life and ensured that she was not sentenced to death," said Ghazal.

The movement to sponsor Iranian political prisoners is gaining momentum, with dozens of European MPs already taking part, as well as federal MPs in Canada.

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.

"This initiative is supported by the Iranian diaspora here in Quebec, in Canada, in Europe, (...) like, in Quebec, the Iranian Women's Association," said Ghazal.

Members of the diaspora communicate with human rights organizations in Iran that are in contact with the families of the prisoners.

"They give as much information as possible to humanize because often just statistics, saying that there are so many people who have been arrested, that there are so many people who have died, it's abstract, whereas here, it's to give a face to this mobilization and this revolution," says the MNA.

Bita Haghani, Amir Arslan Mahdavi, Dena Sheibani, Hesam Moussavi, Eshraq Najafabadi, Mohammad Khiveh, Shirin Marashi, Arshia Takdastan, Melika Semsarian, Reza Kooshki-Nejad and Baran Saedi are the 11 faces that the QS elected members are sponsoring.

The objective, for Ghazal, is that the movement continues and that other members follow suit. She also encourages citizens who are wondering how to deal with the situation in Iran to talk to their elected representatives.

She is a participant in the support demonstrations and was already behind the motion passed unanimously in the National Assembly in December to support the women of Iran.

"What is happening in Iran is very difficult, the people are suffering, but at the same time, it is extremely inspiring. It's a whole generation, a whole people that is rising up by itself", she said. She spoke of a "real feminist revolution" in the national assembly last month.

The next step for Ghazal is to call on the federal government to consider the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

The protests began in mid-September in Iran, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code. Women have played a prominent role in the protests, with many demonstrators publicly removing the mandatory Islamic headscarf, the hijab.

According to human rights activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the unrest, at least 525 protesters have been killed and more than 19,500 people have been arrested in the past four months.

Ghazal says she sees herself in these Iranian women.

"The young (Iranians) are doing things that any young person in the Western world does, which is to share their passions on social networks, very banal things, and there they risk the death penalty," said the Lebanese-born MNA of Palestinian origin, cultures close to Iran.

"Today I have the privilege of being an MNA, but if my parents had made a different choice, I could have been in the same situation as those young people," said Ghazal.

Political prisoners sponsored by MNAs:

• Bita Haghani - Ruba Ghazal
• Amir Arslan Mahdavi - Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois
• Dena Sheibani - Alejandra Zaga Mendez
• Hesam Moussavi - Haroun Bouazzi
• Eshraq Najafabadi - Sol Zanetti
• Mohammad Khiveh - Etienne Grandmont
• Shirin Marashi - Andrés Fontecilla
• Arshia Takdastan - Alexandre Leduc
• Melika Semsarian - Christine Labrie
• Reza Kooshki-Nejad - Vincent Marissal
• Baran Saedi - Manon Massé

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 21, 2023.