Watchdog

A leading Iranian human rights activist has been sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison after being convicted of charges that include membership in a campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.

The heavy sentence against Narges Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) co-founded by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, was issued on top of a six-year-prison sentence she is already serving.

“It’s revenge [against] a human rights defender to keep her in prison and intimidate other rights activists,” Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

Rahmani, who is based in Paris with their two children, said that 10 years of the 16-year prison sentence was issued for “establishing” the outlawed campaign called Step By Step To Stop The Death Penalty in Iran.

But he said Mohammadi was merely a member of the campaign, not a founder.

“She’s not one of the founding members of the campaign,” Rahmani said in a May 19 telephone interview.

“Why is working to decrease the high number of executions in Iran a crime?” Rahmani asked.

He said Mohammadi was sentenced to five years in prison for “meeting and conspiring against the Islamic republic,” and one year for “acting against Iran’s national security.”

Rahmani said the charges stem from Mohammadi’s interviews with Persian-language media based outside of Iran and also for a 2014 meeting in Tehran with former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Under Iranian laws, a person sentenced to multiple prison sentences will serve only the most severe, which means that in practice Mohammadi has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.

The sentence can be appealed.

The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the sentence as the outcome of “a flawed trial” held on April 20 under the influence of Iran’s intelligence ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"Such a heavy sentence shows the iniquitous character of Iranian justice," the group’s secretary-general, Christophe Deloire, said in a May 19 statement.

He added: "President [Hassan] Rohani cannot remain silent in the face of such a judicial outrage even if everyone knows the judicial system takes its orders from the supreme leader."

WATCH: Jailed Iranian Activist Given Press Freedom Award In Absentia

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Amnesty International said the “shocking” prison sentence against Mohammadi was “an all-out attack on human rights defenders in Iran.”

“The authorities have made clear their ruthless determination to silence human rights defenders and instill fear in would-be critics of their policies,” Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Luther said it is shameful for the Iranian authorities to treat a prominent human rights defender as a criminal.

“It exposes their lip service to human rights as utterly meaningless and shows their deep disdain for the basic principles of justice,” he said.

Mohammadi, who has been honored by RSF as an information hero for her defense of human rights, was arrested in May 2015.

She had been detained before and sentenced to prison over her human rights activities on several other occasions.

Radio Farda broadcaster Roya Karimimajd contributed to this report

Tajikistan's Interior Ministry is asking a group of young partygoers briefly detained and possibly roughed up by police last week to come forward with any complaint about alleged mistreatment.

The unusual request follows public complaints by a parent and rights activists, and the posting on social media of an audio recording that purportedly captured police officers insulting and beating young men and women in custody.

A ministry spokesman, Jaloliddin Sadriddinov, confirmed on May 19 that the young Tajiks were detained on the street in the capital, Dushanbe, after attending a Hindu spring festival late on May 15.

Sadriddinov said the revelers were released after questioning by police and he had no information about any mistreatment, adding, "But if the victims file official complaints, the ministry will investigate the case.”

Meanwhile, the 16-minute recording that was shared on May 18 sparked outrage and calls for immediate probes.

Platforma, a Tajik- and Russian-language public group on Facebook, was among the first social-media accounts to post the recording, allegedly made on a mobile phone in the police station.

Platforma claims "some 200 people -- many of them underage children -- were taken to Dushanbe's Ismoili Somoni district police headquarters," where they faced "beating, swearing, and humiliation."

Within hours, the Facebook post was shared hundreds of times.

'Please, Don't Beat Me!'

In the recording, male voices can be heard swearing and insulting and there are sounds suggesting the exchanges become physical.

Female voices can be heard crying and pleading, "Please, don't beat me," and, "Please, please, I didn't know it was prohibited."

At one point, a female voice can be heard hyperventilating before a male voice says, "Hey, these tricks don't work here."

Another -- much calmer -- male voice says, "You beautiful young girls shouldn't be wandering in the streets in the middle of the night. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

RFE/RL cannot confirm the authenticity of the recording, but local rights groups say it is proof of mistreatment at the hands of the police.

Dilrabo Samadova, a representative of the Dushanbe-based Coalition Against Torture, also told RFE/RL that the group has studied the recording and concluded that "the police officers beat the detainees 25 times during the 16 minutes recorded."

The Coalition Against Torture has urged the purported victims to take action against the officers, and offered to represent them in court pro bono.

Samadova said the group has concluded that "seven different policemen can be heard in the recording."

It remains unclear why the young partygoers were detained by police.

Tajik authorities have banned lavish private gatherings, saying extravagant parties strain family budgets.

Last year, a Dushanbe resident was fined for hosting friends at a local restaurant to celebrate his 25th birthday.

But the Hindu celebration's organizer, local NGO Alegriya, said it had obtained an official permit to invite 400 people to the gathering to mark Holi, also known as the festival of color or of sharing love.

Written by Farangis Najibullah based on reporting by RFE/RL's Tajik Service correspondent Sarvinoz Ruhulloh