The first time I saw Elham after he was released from prison, he still had courage, but his gaze was empty and his body was limp. He could cry for years remembering the torture and ordeals he had to go through in prison,” says Nahid Modarresi, sister of the tortured Iranian artist, Elham Modarresi.
Elham, 33, a Kurdish painter from Sanandaj, decided to join a peaceful demonstration in Tehran, along with her friends, on September 19, 2022. Three days before, the news of the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody shocked the country, leading to a series of widespread protests. Nahid explains that her sister could not remain still and silent in the face of such an example of state cruelty against women. “That day I told her that I loved her but that I couldn’t stop her from going to the demonstration. And she left, in complete tranquility.”
On November 2, security agents broke into her home in Karak, a city near the capital, and arrested her for violence for having participated in anti-regime demonstrations. They blindfolded her, threatened her 65-year-old mother at gunpoint and put her in a car. The artist was taken to an undetermined location and, later, to the Kachoui prison, along with other protesters from the Women, Life and Freedom movement.
In prison, Elham suffered physical and psychological torture for two months, according to his sister. “They beat her – she claims – and psychologically tortured her by lying to her so that she would think that her mother and her brother were also arrested in the next cell. The security agents threatened to rape her. Additionally, she was denied access to the medication she was required to take, as well as contact with a lawyer. In prison, her health worsened, but the authorities did not care.”
After two months, he was provisionally released. Elham she took the opportunity to leave the country towards Turkey, where her sister was waiting for her. Her health worsened and she was admitted to an emergency department due to her blood loss. “Her situation is critical,” adds her sister. She urgently needs a liver transplant. In Iran’s prison there is no medical care, even if you have a cold or flu. And the conditions are so horrible and the food so bad that you can get chronic diseases. Her detention and torture deteriorated her situation. “Her life is in danger and time is running out.”
In an attempt to save his life, Nahid has fought non-stop to obtain a liver transplant and money for medical expenses. “For months – he concludes – I have walked the hospital corridors and slept in the waiting rooms, with the faith I have in saving my sister’s life. “It is not just about his struggle, but about that of hundreds of Iranians who lost their lives defending freedom against the regime of the Islamic Republic.”
According to human rights groups, some 500 people have lost their lives in the protests, including 70 children. According to their data, many remain in prison without access to a lawyer or medical assistance.
