The youngest political prisoner of the Nicaraguan regime, Samantha Jirón, is serving 150 days in prison. She was arrested on November 9, 2021 by police agents, two days after the general elections where the regime sealed a fourth consecutive term in the Nicaraguan Presidency by imprisoning its main contenders.
Jirón was convicted of the alleged crimes of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity” and charges under the Cybercrime Law.
The political activist has been held captive in the Women’s Penitentiary System, known as “La Esperanza”, in Tipitapa since December 1, 2021, after being imprisoned in the police station of District Three of Managua. Jirón was sentenced to eight years in prison plus a fine of 30,000 cordobas.
Related news: Samantha Jirón, after hearing her sentence of eight years in prison: “I don’t feel defeated”
Her relatives state that «Samantha knows that she is innocent and that it is an unjust sentence, because she has not committed any crime. Furthermore, she states that she does not feel defeated; she is sad, but we know that she is not going to spend eight years locked up because she will soon get justice. We can’t hang up the gloves; We will not tire of demanding freedom for our prisoners in our country.
Jirón has been subjected to different treatment from that of the other incarcerated women because she is not allowed to go out to the penitentiary system yard nor can she have a radio to listen to the news. The opponent was transferred to “La Esperanza” in the midst of secrecy and she remains there with Evelyn Pinto, an activist of the group aged 60 and over, also imprisoned by the dictatorship.
The opponent was exiled in Costa Rica for more than a year after the repression and siege against her. She returned to Nicaragua in 2020 and despite constant persecution by the Police and Sandinista sympathizers, she continued to work in political activism with the Blue and White National Unity (Unab).
Related news: Evelyn Pinto and Samantha Jirón are transferred to the women’s prison
As evidence for his prosecution, the Ortega justice presented video interviews that he provided to international and national media outlets, where he spoke about issues of interest and public domain such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the political crisis in the country. The police experts alleged that these statements “attacked the homeland.”
Despite the fact that Jirón —like the other political prisoners— was found guilty, close sources assert that she is strong and throughout the process she was “with very high morale” and “stressed to the judge that she is innocent of all crimes that they are being charged with.”
Once the “trial” was over, Samantha Jirón, who was dressed in the blue suit, was able to hug one of her relatives who was present in the Managua courts and tell her to be strong and “we’ll get out of this soon.”
