Source:
April 12, 2010

Mitra Aali completed her BA at Amir Kabir University in Tehran. During the time she was at Amir Kabir, Aali was a student activist and the editor-in-chief of the Simorgh magazine, which was published by the university’s Islamic Student Association. Upon completing her BA, Aali was admitted in a master’s program at Sharif University after ranking 7th in the entry exam. She was allowed to enrol only after she agreed to refrain from political activities.

During the course of her studies Aali was summoned once by Sharif University’s disciplinary committee. On another occasion, she was interrogated by intelligence agents in the basement of the university’s security office.

During the disputed presidential election in 2009, Aali worked for the Karroubi campaign. On June 14, 2009, two days after the election, she was arrested when her house was raided by agents from the Intelligence Ministry. She was released a day later after being interrogated at the investigations office of the Intelligence Ministry. On December 7, 2009, following a Student Day gathering on the university campus, agents attempted unsuccessfully to arrest the student activist, who was not at home at the time of their raid. Two months later, on February 10, 2010, Aali was arrested again at her home by plainclothes agents, who also seized her personal belongings. She was released 5 days later to a third party custodian.

A few days before Nowrooz, and as she was preparing her thesis, Aali was contacted by her interrogators, who asked her to report to the investigations office to retrieve her seized belongings. She was arrested upon appearance and taken to the notorious Ward 209.

Since that day, Aali has only called her family once and with her interrogator present. During the brief phone call, she was not able to talk about her charges or her condition. According to prisoners who have recently been releaseded from Ward 209, the student activist is still being held in solitary confinement and is under heavy pressure by the interrogators. Her family’s repeated visits to the Revolutionary Court have been to no avail, and judicial authorities refuse to provide an explanation for her ongoing detention.

Meanwhile, despite a written order by the case magistrate, the interrogators have instructed Evin officials to prevent the family from visiting with their daughter. The cancellation of prison visits and her ongoing detention has led to fears that she is being mistreated by her interrogators.