Iran Focus
London, 9 Jan – The daughters of political prisoner, Ali Moezzi, who went missing inside an Iranian jail on January 4, have pleaded with the international community to demand news on their father.
Hejrat and Forough Moezzi, both members of the Iranian Resistance group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), spoke to the International Business Times about their fears that their father has been secretly murdered.
Hejrat, 29, said: “On Wednesday (4 January) I heard they abducted my father in prison and we have no news from him, they took him to another place.”
Ali, 65, was last seen by his family earlier that day, during a prison visit, but he never returned to his cell.
Hejrat continued: “I am really worried about him. They have executed many political prisoners, they killed many of them in prison and I am afraid, I don’t know if he is still alive.”
Given his political beliefs, there is a high chance that he is in imminent danger; he has been beaten, tortured and threatened with his life.
Forough, 27, said: “I am very concerned because I know the Iranian regime is bad for human rights activists, and I don’t know if he is still alive or not.”
She continued: “My father is in a bad situation – the Iranian people are victims of silence. I want you to ask human rights communities and the UN to condemn the Iranian regime and take action.”
The British Parliamentary Committee on Iran wrote a letter in support of Ali Moezzi and other political prisoners in Iran.
It read: “Mr. Moezzi’s case is another example that the Iranian authorities are stepping up domestic crackdown on political prisoners, activists, dissidents and dual citizens in Iran.”
Ali was sentenced to five year’s imprisonment in 2011 – for attending a funeral of a PMOI member who died in prison- and was due to be released last year. At the last moment, the Regime officials extended his sentence without explanation.
Hejrat and Forough live in an undisclosed location due to the Iranian Regime’s constant terrorising of Resistance supporters. Their father was also arrested in 2008 for visiting them in exile at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
