Iranian human rights defender, Narges Mohammadi, slammed the Supreme Leader’s latest prisoner amnesty as a sham to feign compassion to the Western world.

In a letter written to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from inside Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison following news that thousands of protesters are being released, she claims the latest announcement reflects a “politics of the Islamic Republic [which] is based on lies”.

It is not the first time such a show has taken place since the protests, which have seen over 500 protesters killed in brutal clampdowns by security forces and thousands more imprisoned. Four Iranians have received the death sentence for their part in protests which were sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September.

Mohammadi has been imprisoned several times over the past two decades for her work fighting for human rights.

In her letter to the HRC, she said she is ready to testify against the authorities of the Islamic Republic regarding the torture, harassment and abuse of prisoners.

She was freed from Evin Prison in September 2020 after serving more than five years, during which time she often had no contact with her husband and children for long periods of time.

Last year, she was arrested again and sentenced to eight years in jail and 70 lashes by the Revolutionary Court on trumped-up political charges in a five-minute sham trial.