ROME – After months of trials and tribulations, the Kurdish-Iranian activist Maysoon Majidi has been released from prison in Calabria, where she was detained for allegedly facilitating illegal immigration. On Tuesday, Crotone’s tribunal warranted her release on the grounds of insufficient and unreliable evidence from the prosecution.

 On Dec. 31 2023, Majidi arrived by boat on the Calabrian coast alongside another 76 illegal immigrants. Majidi had spent the last five years fleeing from Iran, where she was first prosecuted in 2019 for her human rights activism.

 Upon her disembarkation in Calabria, Majidi was arrested and accused of being the boat captain’s accomplice, organising the transit of these immigrants. The evidence for these claims was two testimonies from fellow boat passengers who, upon witnessing Majidi distribute food and water to other immigrants, concluded that she must be a refugee smuggler.

 Majidi consistently and vehemently denied these accusations with the help of her solicitor Giancarlo Liberati. She was facing an incarceration of 16 years, a fine of 15 million euros, and repatriation to Iran, which, she claimed, would put her life at significant risk, considering the culture of Kurdish persecution rampant in the country.  Majidi began hunger strikes in prison and many months passed where she was unable to defend herself due to a lack of legal representation. When she eventually obtained a lawyer, Majidi started to rally national and international support, with organisations such as Amnesty International, and various Italian politicians, calling for her case to be heard.  

 On Tuesday this demand was met when her arrest was challenged by the defence, who argued the evidence against Majidi to be weak and unreliable. Armed with testimonies from other immigrants on board that assured she was not the captain’s accomplice, the prosecution’s lack of serious evidence soon became apparent. Even the two immigrants who originally made the accusations against her have since withdrawn their statements.

 Whilst a hearing on Nov. 27 will confirm Majidi’s innocence, for now she has been released from pre-trial detention and permitted to live freely. ‘Without freedom there is no life’, remarked the activist upon her release from prison. Be it in Iran or Italy, Majidi’s fight for personal autonomy seems to never cease.

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