The Appeals Process is Finished

Last week was supposed to be a hearing for Narges' appeal. When Narges, her lawyers and the people from the Iranian Consulate went to the local court in Rayagada, they were told the appeal was delayed again. This was very frustrating, because it was not the first time this happened in Rayagada. This was the 4th delay! But then, a few days later.. We were very shocked to find out that a hearing took place. Nobody was told until it was over. By law, Narges must have a local lawyer from Rayagada. She is allowed to bring as many other lawyers as she wants, but she must have a local one. Her Rayagada lawyer was asked by the judge to appear in court the other day and to quickly speak on behalf of Narges. That was it. The appeal process is finished. Narges was not there, her Mumbai lawyer was not there and no one from the Iranian Consulate was able to witness the hearing. This could either be extremely good, or extremely bad. It could be good because it may mean Rayagada finally realized they cannot continue to delay Narges' appeal. It may mean that Rayagada finally received orders that it cannot continue to delay the hearing. So, possibly, they realized that they can't keep postponing, so Rayagada panicked and quickly did the appeal. It could be extremely bad because the local court may have played a dirty game. They may have seen that no one from the Iranian Consulate or the lawyer from Mumbai was in Rayagada, and because of that they quickly wanted to do the appeal without anyone watching or attending. It's hard to see what is going on. We can only hope that this time she will be getting a fair trial. The court has set a date at the end of this month to announce the verdict. If acquitted, Narges will be free. If found guilty, she has to appeal again. If she appeals again, it will be moved to a higher court and out of Rayagada. But it would be time consuming. We must keep supporting Narges and spreading the word about the corruption and human rights abuses in Rayagada. We must keep the pressure on the local and higher officials to give Narges a fair trial. Especially now they have announced to give a verdict by the end of this month. Tweet with #helpnarges to @SushmaSwaraj and @NarendraModi to let them know we demand justice.