Iranian prison guards 'broke elderly woman poet's knees'

Iranian officials have broken the knees of an elderly poet imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin jail, according to Iranian media reports.

Mahvash Sabet, 70, had her kneecaps broken during interrogation after being detained last summer, as part of Iran’s repression of the Bahai religious group, The Sun reported independent local media as saying.

Sabet – who is reported to be a leading figure of Iran’s Bahai community - was detained over espionage accusations.

Iran has outlawed the Bahai religious group and often accuses its members of spying for Israel. The Bahai faith was founded in Iran in the 19th century but its headquarters are in Haifa in Israel.

After a court session last November, Sabet was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to Iran Wire, who also reported her daughter, Negar Sabet, as saying the poet had been sent to Evin prison.

Her family are concerned for her health, saying she "she cannot withstand imprisonment".

"My mother is in poor health due to her old age and her previous imprisonment, which has weakened her physically… the long and intense interrogations, along with beatings, have caused her to require continuous medical treatment and care," Iran Wire reported Sabet's daughter as saying last March.

Sabet had already spent 10 years of her life, from 2008 to 2017, in Iranian prisons for her religious beliefs. Most of her literary works were written in this time, including her books ‘Free’ and ‘Love Story’.

Following her release in 2017, the poet was recognised as an International Writer of Courage by PEN International, a literary freedom of expression group.

Evin jail has been widely condemned by human rights groups for its "cruelty against prisoners".

The monotheistic Bahai faith, which has its roots in Shia Islam, has been repressed in Iran particularly since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The faith is followed by as many as seven million people around the world but is not recognised as a religion by Tehran. Many of its followers have been imprisoned and killed, while Bahai graveyards in Iran have been desecrated.