Although she has been widely condemned, the human rights activist Mohammadi continues to denounce abuses in Iran – even from prison. As she announced, the regime in Tehran responded with new charges against the Nobel Prize winner.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who is in prison in Iran, will be back in court this Sunday, according to her own statement. She is accused of carrying out propaganda against the Islamic system by falsely denouncing sexual abuse of women in Iranian prisons. The 52-year-old wrote this in a letter from the notorious Ewin Prison in Tehran.
Mohammadi called on the Iranian judiciary to “make this trial public and allow the participation of independent media and human rights activists.” She is considered one of the most well-known human rights activists in the Islamic Republic and was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while already in prison.
Mohammadi calls on those affected to speak out publicly
“I want you to accuse me of exactly this, but in the presence of witnesses,” Mohammadi wrote in the letter, which was sent to Persian-language media abroad. According to Mohammadi, those present will witness how reactionary, misogynistic and anti-progressive the religious rule in Iran is. Her lawyer had previously announced the new trial. The authorities did not comment.
Mohammadi also called on affected women to make public their experiences of arrests and sexual assaults by state officials. The human rights activist referred to the case of journalist and student Dina Ghalibaf, who, according to civil rights groups, was arrested after she accused security forces of handcuffing her and sexually assaulting her during an earlier arrest in a subway station. Ghalibaf was later released.
Long prison sentences, lashes and bans on leaving the country
The 52-year-old physicist Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times in recent years and sentenced to long prison terms and even lashings. She is also banned from leaving the country, is not allowed to be a member of a political group and is not allowed to use her smartphone.
Awards ceremony in the absence of the honorees
An Instagram account through which Mohammadi’s statements are repeatedly disseminated is operated by relatives and friends at home and abroad. According to the Nobel Committee, she received the 2023 Peace Award for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight against the death penalty, as well as for promoting human rights and freedom for all. A large portrait of her was hung at the ceremony.
There were mass protests in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The police arrested her at the time because she allegedly did not comply with the strict Islamic dress code. The security forces cracked down on the months-long, nationwide protests, including many women. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested.