Civil rights activist Somayeh Kargar has been temporarily released from Qarchak Prison Wednesday, 28 April, on a bail of 500 million Iranian Tomans – nearly 20,000 USD, sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Kargar spent more than six months in Evin and Qarchak prisons under severe physical conditions and psychological pressure.
Meanwhile, the activist’s lawyer Mostafa Nili wrote on his Twitter account yesterday 28 April: “The first hearing of the cases of Nahid Taghavi, Somayeh Kargar, Bahareh Soleimani, Nazanin Mohammadnezhad, and Mehran Raouf was held today in Branch 26 of the [Islamic] Revolutionary Court. At this meeting, the clients were informed of the charges against them and the rest of the investigation was postponed to the next hearing.”
On 19 February 2021, a source familiar with Kargar’s case had spoken to the KHRN and said: “The appointed lawyer has not been able to study the case and meet with Ms. Kargar, and no information is available on the charges against her.”
Several days after Kargar’s arrest, her family was verbally informed that she was charged with “cybercrime.”
Somayeh Kargar, a Kurdish social activist from Ilam and a graduate of philosophy from the University of Tabriz, was arrested by forces of the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 16 October 2020 at her home in Tehran. The security officers also searched her house and confiscated her personal belongings, including her computer and cell phone.
She was transferred to Qarchak Prison in early February 2021 after four months of interrogation in Ward 2A of Tehran’s Evin Prison.
The civil activist has suffered severe weight loss and stomach diseases due to the harsh detention conditions for the past six months. She also suffers from severe visual impairment due to a rare eye disease. However, her medical treatment, which was scheduled to continue in France, had been stopped due to her detention.
