Platinum blond hair, blue-green streaks, a piercing in the right eyebrow, another under the lower lip.
A modern young woman like there are millions.
But Armita Abbasi is not like the others.
At 21, this Iranian has become one of the many faces of the blind repression on the march since the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022 in Tehran.
After more than 100 days of detention, his trial, repeatedly postponed, opens Monday, January 30 in Karaj, Iran.
She is accused of having "made molotov cocktails" and of being "leader of the demonstrations".
Armita Abbasi will face judge Assef Al-Hosseini known for his cruelty.
Without a lawyer.
On January 23, his lawyers, Mohammad Esmailbeigi and Sonia Mohammadi announced on Twitter their resignation for lack of access to his file.
"Given our request for a face-to-face meeting which has not been answered up to this moment, and the lack of time which makes it impossible to adequately defend our client, Mrs. Sonia Mohammadi and myself declare our resignation from the defense of Ms. Armita Abbasi,” wrote Me Esmailbeigi.
On January 2, she began a hunger strike in Katchoï prison in Karaj, in northern Iran, where she has been incarcerated for more than three months.
A strong gesture, followed by 14 fellow prisoners, to protest against "the inhuman and unworthy conditions in which they were detained but also the harassment and torture suffered", explains Me Hirbod Dehghani-Azar, Franco-Iranian lawyer who lists the abuses committed by the Islamic Republic's security forces.
After seven days of strong mobilization on social networks, in particular under the hashtag #FemmeVieLiberté (#WomenLifeFreedom in English), all gave in to "the pressure and threats exerted by prison officials" on them and their families.
Today the relatives of the detainees, without news of them for 7 days, had gathered in front of the prison like every day.
They were assaulted and beaten by the police.
https://t.co/vBP24HlsFD— letters from Tehran (@LettresTeheran) January 8, 2023
"None of their claim has been heard by the authorities. There is no improvement in their conditions of detention, nor in their personal situation, regrets Mr. Dehghani-Azar. Their relatives were able to see them furtively in the presence of the agents police. They seem to be fine even though they have lost weight."
According to the detainees' relatives, they broke their hunger strike after 7 days, in particular because of the threats and pressure exerted by the prison officials.
their relatives were able to see them furtively in the presence of the officers today.
According to them, They are fine 1/2 https://t.co/vBP24HlsFD
— letters from Tehran (@LettresTeheran) January 9, 2023
Armita Abbasi, Somayyeh Massoumi, Fatemeh Harbi, Ensieh Moussavi, Fatemeh Nazarinejad, Elham Modarresi, Fatemeh Mosleh Heydarzadeh, Niloufar Shakeri, Niloufar Kardouni, Marzieh Qassemi, Shahrzad Derakhshan, Fatemeh Jamalpour, Hamideh Zeraii, Jasmine Haj Mirza Mohammadi and Maedeh Sohrabi were put quarantined in Katchoi prison.
While the reasons for the imprisonment of these women remain unclear, almost all seem to have been victims of sexual assault.
In addition to the desire for male domination, raping virgins or women suspected of being virgins responds to a proven strategy since the 1980s under the era of Ayatollah Khomeini, recalls the Gatestone Institute, an international think tank.
Asked on December 7, 1986 about the massive use of rape in prisons, the Supreme Leader replied: "Yes! Such rapes are essential to prevent these anti-Islamic women from entering paradise. If they are executed as virgins, they will enter heaven. So rape is extremely important to prevent these elements from entering heaven."
Armita Abbasi hospitalized for a "hemorrhage in the rectum"
To date, of the fifteen prisoners in Katchoï, only the abuse suffered by Armita Abassi has been detailed.
According to an investigation published by CNN on November 21, 2022, the young woman in her twenties was arrested after having posted, without hiding her identity, messages deemed "hostile to the regime" on social networks.
Arrested a month after the start of the popular protest, the government accused her of being one of the "leader of the riots" and claimed to have found "10 molotov cocktails" at her home.
A statement that promised particularly severe sanctions for the young woman of 20 years.
On October 18, 2022, she was escorted by armed men from prison to Imam Ali Hospital in Karaj, says CNN who was able to corroborate the facts.
Armita trembling like a leaf, kept crying.
"When she arrived, (the officers) said she was bleeding from the rectum...due to repeated rapes," said a member of the medical staff who, obviously very shocked by what he had seen, posted messages on social networks.
These men insisted that it be mentioned that the assaults predated his arrest.
By the time Armita Abbasi's family arrived at the hospital, she had disappeared.
According to the official version, she was being treated for "digestive problems".
1/#ArmitaAbbasi's life is in danger, her mother said on Instagram, posting a picture of her missing daughter.
Armita, 21, was last seen in Imam Ali's hospital in Karaj more than 10 days ago.
Her family is worried and uncertain of her faith.#IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/xiqU0liLyJ
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) October 31, 2022
"We condemn women to death much less in Iran - a priori -, recalls Me Dehghani-Azar. Most often, they are sentenced to lashes and imprisonment. But so far, it has not there was no logic."
Judge the "crimes against humanity" perpetrated in Iran
Faced with media pressure, could Armita Abbasi be released?
The Iranian authorities could be tempted to create a diversion.
"Maybe we'll let her out by putting pressure on her family to shut up and at the same time condemning all the other fellow prisoners."
Rape, torture, executions with hasty trials... For these crimes to be punished one day by justice, Hirbod Dehghani-Azar and the group of jurists to which he belongs call on the international community to include the Revolutionary Guards on the list terrorist organizations.
France must also put the Islamic Republic on the list of terrorist organizations.@MinColonna @Senat @EmmanuelMacron https://t.co/gf6AnippIE
— Azadi Woman Collective (@femmeazadi) January 9, 2023
"This would make it possible to freeze their assets and their assets abroad but also to prosecute them by opening the way to the creation of an international jurisdiction competent to judge these crimes against humanity".
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