Jailed Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi gave an interview to FRANCE 24 while on temporary leave from Tehran’s Evin prison. Despite nine trials and facing another 10 years in jail, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate is determined to continue her fight for human rights in Iran. Mohammadi also said the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement is still alive but has taken on “different forms”.
Granted temporary leave from prison, Mohammadi spoke to FRANCE 24 from her home in Tehran. Despite being tired from recent surgery, she assured us she is “doing well” psychologically.
After being tried nine times, the women’s rights activist is currently on her tenth year in jail and will have to return to prison for another 10 years. She is currently detained in Tehran’s Evin prison, in the political prisoners’ wing.
During her time in Evin prison, Mohammadi said she had been sent to solitary confinement three times, “where the conditions of detention are unbearable”.
Mohammadi was also sent to solitary confinement in the military detention centre of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. “They bring you there to inflict psychological and moral torture on you and to break you,” she said.
While in detention, Mohammadi was not allowed out to visit her sick father in hospital. She was later not allowed to attend his funeral. She has also had difficulty communicating with her children, who live in exile. The guards would not allow her to talk to them on the phone. The mother of two said she lives in hope of “one day” holding her children in her arms.
Mohammadi insisted that the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement, sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police, “is still alive” but has taken on “different forms”.
She added that this shows the Iranian people “are resisting”. “You can see the level of this resistance everywhere in the country.”
The activist also talked about the mandatory veil law imposed on Iranian women, calling it “a tool of domination” by the authorities. “If they can dominate half of society, this subjugation would allow them to bring all of society under their domination.”
Although her Nobel Peace Prize has put a spotlight on her fight for human rights, the laureate admitted that “in a country like Iran, with a repressive government like the Islamic Republic […] winning the Nobel Peace Prize has made the situation more sensitive”.
Mohammadi explained that she had been asked “many times” by the Iranian authorities to leave the country, but had refused.
“I have no intention of leaving Iran. I am determined to continue fighting alongside the Iranian people,” she said.
Also read: JD Vance turns on EU over free speech and migration
Featured photo source: UN news
Source: france24.com
