Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, speaking out from jail: «No prison will ever lock up my voice. The veil is submission»

�Mrs Mohammadi has answered your questions and thanks you for your patience�. The email arrives unexpectedly, six days after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. At Oslo City Hall, there were her twin children, Ali and Kiana, 17 years old, and an empty chair telling the story of her absence.

Mohammadi, 51, imprisoned in Tehran since 2021, has been arrested 13 times and sentenced to 31 years and 154 lashes. The engineer, vice president and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, activist, and above all, a symbol of the Iranian struggle against dictatorship, responds in writing from a tiny cell she shares with four other companions in the women’s ward of Evin.

On the wall, high up, a small window through which she sees her beloved mountains, a distant hint of freedom. �Prisoners have different ways of communicating with the outside world, but we prefer not to go into detail�, says her husband and activist Taghi Rahmani, who hasn’t heard his wife’s voice in two years. �Narges rarely gives interviews, but when she does, she is very happy to talk about the Iranian revolution. However, every message she sends out of prison comes at a price�.

How does one pay for standing in the way with one’s body and words? �On me�, says Mohammadi, �they open case after case. There are six at the moment. For two of these, I have been sentenced to another 27 months in prison and four months of community service, while awaiting another verdict�.

What does it mean for a mother, for a parent, not to see their own children for eight years?
�Being away from one’s child is the most excruciating pain one can imagine. The first arrest happened when Ali and Kiana were three years and five months old. I was in isolation, in a maximum-security unit. There were no phone calls, no visits, I knew nothing about how my children were doing. I was tormented. Every time I think about that period, I can’t believe I survived so much suffering. Then it got even worse�.

What do you mean?
�The second time they arrested me and placed me in isolation, Kiana and Ali were five years old, and Taghi had fled to Paris. In the cell, all I could think about was the loneliness, the helplessness of my children, so small, so alone: it was unbearable. I survived only thanks to my faith in freedom for every human being. So, the suffering doesn’t decrease, but it finds meaning. I can’t complain�.

Now your children are 17 years old and went to Oslo to receive the Prize on your behalf. What does this Nobel mean to you?
�The message I sent, and that Ali and Kiana read during the ceremony, began with the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’, in honour of the Iranian people’s revolution. For me, the Nobel is a declaration of global support for the progressive movement in Iran. It is for the Iran that rises against oppression�.

But it is also a recognition of your activism and your courage, dedicating your life to the dream of a free country, and for this you have been going in and out of prison.
�The last time I got out of prison was in 2020. I immediately tried to go to Paris where my children and my husband live, but I was forbidden to leave the country. I was free for a year, then they prosecuted me again and sentenced me. For the fourth time, they put me in isolation. I was never interrogated, nor have I seen a lawyer. I was sentenced to eight years and three months and 74 lashes, which I am now serving�.

You were sent to Evin?
�I was first sent to Qarchak, a women’s prison. One month later, I had a heart attack, and they allowed me to go to the hospital where I underwent surgery. After six months, I was transferred to the women’s section of Evin Prison in Tehran�.

A month ago, after a deterioration in your health conditions, you started a hunger strike. You were denied permission to leave the prison for an important doctor’s appointment because you refused to wear the hijab. Death, rather than the veil?
�Mandatory hijab is not a religious duty or a cultural norm, nor, as the regime claims, a way to preserve the dignity and safety of women. Mandatory hijab is a tool to subjugate and dominate us. It is one of the foundations of authoritarian theocracy, and I fight against it with all my being. The killing of Mahsa-Jina Amini and hundreds of protesters in the streets, the killing of Armita Garawand, is and will be forever a pain that breaks my heart. Not wearing the veil even for a necessary medical examination is my protest and my form of resistance against the oppressor. I will never take a step back�.

In the past, you have exposed violence against women and rape in prisons. What happens in Evin, the most notorious prison in Iran?
�Violence against women, especially against protesters, is constant, not only here. I have witnessed the bruised, broken, and injured bodies of female detainees. Attacks against female prisoners are one of the repression tools the regime has used the most in the past year, although it has always been a widespread practice of the Islamic Republic. My fellow inmates and I have experienced isolation and maximum security, and we have heard many stories of sexual assaults. Then there is the higher level: execution by hanging�.

In the past year, the regime has hanged hundreds of people, among them eight protesters.
�Executions are one of the most serious human rights violations. The authorities do another terrifying thing that is less talked about: they confine those who have protested in psychiatric wards, and the brutality of what goes on inside is simply shocking. I have protested in prison for them as well�.

Do your struggles find support in prison?
�Today, among the women detainees, I see more unity, empathy, and motivation to fight. We political prisoners come from different backgrounds, but we all share the same goal: to end the rule of the Islamic Republic, and for this we ‘work’ together. Among us are women in their 70s, that we respect as mothers. And six girls under 25, that we love as daughters. We are family�.

How do you spend your days?
�I study a lot, talk with friends, organize celebrations, exercise, and engage in daily activities that make me feel like life keeps going on. We continue the struggle from here with hunger strikes, sit-ins, opposing the veil. The prison walls will not prevent my voice from reaching the world�.

What are you fighting for?
�I’m fighting to bring democracy, freedom, and equality to Iran. We Iranians want a strong and independent civil society. Democracy does not exist without respect for human rights and, therefore, the rights of women�.

What is the strength of the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement?
�It is a revolutionary movement born from the initiative of women, which later saw the participation of men and various classes and groups in society – students, youths, teachers, workers. This particular trait has allowed the widespread dissemination of civil disobedience, despite the harsh repression in the streets. I believe that ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ has significantly accelerated the country’s process of democratization. It has brought about irreversible changes. I am very hopeful about the future of Iran�.

What do you expect from the international community?
�It is important that the world sees and recognizes our struggle and the changes that are taking place in Iranian society. I expect foreign governments and global public opinion to ensure human rights and the democratic process in Iran�.

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