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Negar Sabet finds herself crying at random moments during the day, with the stress of her detained mother's fate in Iran taking its toll. "It's now a matter of her life," the Sydney resident told SBS News. "She could be returned to the prison at any time.
" Her mother, Mahvash Sabet, a renowned Baha'i poet in Iran, had already spent 10 years in jail when she was rearrested in July 2022 on national security charges and sentenced to another 10 years. On Tuesday, she will mark her 72nd birthday on medical furlough at her Tehran home, where she has been detained since undergoing open-heart surgery in December during her imprisonment. Credit: Supplied Negar said her mother's health is worsening as she struggles with daily tasks.
"She can't even say a couple of sentences; she constantly coughs because of the fluid in her lungs," she said. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a US government agency, Sabet was reportedly charged with "founding or leading an organisation that aims to disrupt national security" in 2022. Negar described the charges against her mother as "unfair and unjust" and said the accusations were "baseless" because her mother had not been shown any evidence of the charges.
She believes the charges are part of a broader pattern of religious persecution targeting the Baha'i community, the largest non-Muslim religious minority in Iran, with an estimated 300,000 followers. A series of Sabet's poems written inside Evin prison in 2017 earned her the International Writer of Courage award by PEN International. Fellow poet Michael Longley described the imprisonment "sin against the light" during the award ceremony.
Iranian singer arrested after performing without headscarf, her lawyer says The Baha'i International Community, which represents the global community, has called for Sabet's release, the cancellation of her sentence and assurances from Iranian authorities that she will never be sent back to jail. "Ms Sabet should have never been in prison in the first place and once she faced health conditions in prison, should have been released," the group said in a statement in December. Negar is now waiting to hear if an Iranian medical committee will decide whether her mother will be forced to return to Evin prison and continue serving her sentence.
"She [Mahvash] is struggling," Negar said, adding that the stress is impeding her mother's recovery. "If she goes back, it's equal to her life (ending)." Negar said she often finds herself crying while campaigning for her mother's release and juggling motherhood herself.
"It's really dark where I'm trapped in," she said. She is urging the Australian government to intervene and contact the Iranian government about her mother's case. She has written a letter to Foreign Minister Penny Wong pleading for help but says she has yet to receive a response.
SBS News has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comment..
