Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA)- Ruqayya Haji Mashallah, a 37-year-old citizen of Bahrain, was detained on April 20, 2018 by security forces in Mashhad. In custody ever since, she has only been able to speak to her family in Bahrain twice since her arrest.

An informed source told HRANA that Haji-Mashallah’s annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Eighth Shi’i Imam, located in Mashhad, has brought her under the suspicion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “IRGC Intelligence claims that Ms. Haji-Mashallah has been tasked by the Bahraini government with identifying supporters of Issa Ghasem, a Bahraini opposition leader,” the source said.

Immediately after her April arrest, Haji-Mashallah was held in solitary confinement at an IRGC detention center for 12 days. She was then transferred to Evin’s Ward 2A, also under IRGC jurisdiction. Two months of interrogations later, she was taken to Evin’s general Women’s Ward, where she has remained since.

Severed diplomatic relations between Iran and Bahrain have prevented Haji-Mashallah from contacting her husband and three children with the prison telephone. “Since June 27th, when she was transferred to the Women’s Ward at Evin, she has been taken only twice to the IRGC Ward so that she can contact her Bahraini husband and children using the internet. Her husband has traveled to Iran once to visit her,” the source added.

Judge Salavati is presiding over Haji-Mashallah’s case file. As of the date of this report, her court date has not been set.