Standing in the storm
The story of a woman who refuses to surrender
Narges Mohammadi, a 51-year-old human rights activist, has spent nearly 10 out of the past 14 years in prison and is currently imprisoned in the Islamic Republic. She says she will continue her fight for human rights, even if it costs her life. Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, October 14, and the Nobel Committee stated in its statement that the slogan of her life is the freedom of women, which represents her selflessness and work.
Who is Narges Mohammadi?
Narges Mohammadi was born on April 21, 1972, in middle-class families in Zanjan. She referred to herself as Angelina Jolie, a famous actress. Since childhood, she has witnessed the execution, torture, and violation of women’s rights in schools and society. She has been repeatedly detained by revolutionary committees and morality police. During her childhood, her uncle and another aunt, both teachers, were executed, and her uncle was also a political prisoner for years.
He himself was a student of applied physics who wanted to continue studying physics until the doctoral level. However, his life path in the city of Qazvin, where he was a student at the International University of Imam Khomeini, changed forever, to the point where he became one of the most outspoken critics of the Iranian government.
Narges Mohammadi began her civil activities by establishing a mountaineering club and simultaneously forming a student organization called the Enlightenment Student Association in the same city. Although the organization was never officially recognized, it had an influential role in the first round of city council elections and the sixth parliamentary elections.
Taqi Rahmani, a political activist and Narges Mohammadi’s husband, says that Narges’ motivation from the beginning was very strong for the activities and courage she had. As a political activist, she was able to give speeches at all universities during the time of President Mohammad Khatami, except for this university where Narges worked.
Taqi Rahmani says that he realized at the age of forty that democracy is not achievable without a civil society. However, Narges was much younger when she came to this realization. She established the Center for Human Rights Defenders in 2002, led by Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Narges Mohammadi continued her work in the field of human rights as the spokesperson for this organization, alongside lawyers such as Abdolfattah Soltani, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, and Mohammad Sharif, who defended prisoners without legal representation. She organized seminars against oppressive laws and supported trade unions.
Mohammad Seifzadeh says that Narges Mohammadi played a very important role as the spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders in taking a stand against human rights violations and also in raising awareness. She never focused on herself or others and was a true spokesperson for all the oppressed.
Narges Mohammadi, who had become an important figure in reporting on political and civil prisoners and protesting human rights violations as the spokesperson for the Association of Human Rights Defenders, gained even more credibility with the formation of the National Peace Council in 2007. This council was established as the threat of military attack on Iran had increased more than ever before. Narges Mohammadi was selected as the head of the executive board of this council, which consisted of 75 members, including Simin Behbahani, Bahman Keshavarz, and Rokhsan Baniamamad.
Facing oppression and suppression
Two years later, in 2009, Narges Mohammadi, who had been employed at the Iranian Engineering Inspection Company since 2001, was fired from the company. She was told that she had to distance herself from the Association of Human Rights Defenders. In the same year, she was banned from leaving the country and in April 2010, she was imprisoned while her twins, Ali and Kiana, were only three and a half years old at the time.
Narges Mohammadi, who met and had a conversation with Catherine Ashton, the former European Union’s foreign policy chief, in Tehran this year about human rights violations in Iran, has been arrested this time for opposing the execution of six Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr prison on charges of collaborating with ISIS. Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, led by Judge Salavati, sentenced her to 16 years in prison under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, which means 10 years in prison for organizing and managing an illegal group called LEGAM.
While in prison, Narges Mohammadi continued her activities and took positions, to the extent that after declaring her immunity in prison, she was exiled to Zanjan prison in solidarity with the families of the victims killed in November 2019. The intensity of the violence used by the officials during her transfer to Zanjan prison was shocking for her as well. Her father, Karim Mohammadi, announced on 28 September 2020, after meeting her in Zanjan prison, that he had seen bruises on Narges’ body in the visitation room.
Narges Mohammadi was finally released from Zanjan prison on October 7, 2020, using the law on reducing prison sentences. However, on November 15, 2021, during a raid by security forces on a mourning ceremony at the Ibrahim Ketabdar mausoleum for the victims of November 2019 protests, she was arrested again and transferred to Garchak Varamin prison. On March 22 of the same year, she was granted medical leave for a heart surgery.
Narges’ account of torture and harassment
On April 12, 2022, Narges Mohammadi returned to prison. In addition to her previous sentence, new cases were opened against her due to her activities in prison, and this time she was sentenced to 154 lashes in addition to 10 years and 9 months in prison.
Narges Mohammadi exposed the sexual torture of political prisoners and accused Gholamreza Ziaei, the head of Evin prison, of sexual assault. She joined the mothers of the victims in writing a book about individual and white torture. She issued multiple letters warning about the situation in prisons and detention centers, as well as the violence against prisoners and detainees during nationwide protests, and year after year became a prominent figure in opposition to the Islamic Republic.
Mansoureh Shojai, a women’s rights activist and friend of Narges Mohammadi, who resides in the Netherlands, says that Narges’ identity was completely clear as the narrator. However, due to the geographical confinement of the prison she was trapped in, she focused on the prison. If a prisoner was tortured or sexually assaulted, and she couldn’t speak up herself, Narges would speak up.
Years away from home
Narges Mohammadi was in prison in 1394 (2015) when her children, Ali and Kiana, left Iran at the age of eight and joined their father in France. She herself addressed Angelina Jolie and said that from 26 Tir 94 (2015) to 26 Tir 95 (2016), as well as from Mordad 98 (2019) to Mordad 99 (2020), I was deprived of contact with Ali and Kiana, and this prohibition continues until today. Dreams are the only point of connection I have with Ali and Kiana, but every time I see them in my dreams, they still have the faces of when they were eight years old.
A rejected proposal
Narges Mohammadi was under additional pressure throughout all these years. She announced to some media outlets that the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence have put pressure on her to leave Iran. Mohammad Seifzadeh, a lawyer and colleague of Narges Mohammadi, says that he talked to her about going and joining her family abroad, but she did not accept and accepted the suffering of prison and all its calamities.
Narges Mohammadi had said about enduring pressures, harassment, and suffering that for me, fighting and resisting in life finds meaning. I live my life while resisting and fighting, and I am truly satisfied and happy with this lifestyle. I remember in solitary confinement, even though I didn’t have a good mood, I would dance because this was a part of my life. It was daytime, the sun was shining, and I was in a cell deprived of everything and everyone, not even a sound or a light, but I thought that this was a chosen way of life for me.
