After activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison in Iran, campaigner Nasrin Parvaz says the world needs to do more
NARGES MOHAMMADI won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran. She is ser ving a 10-year sentence in Evin prison, notorious for human rights abuses. She’s been on hunger strike since 10 December. Her teenage twins accepted the prize on her behalf at Oslo City Hall in Norway, reading out a speech smuggled from prison.
More than 30 years ago, I was in that same prison. I was sentenced to death for taking to the streets to demand my freedom from an oppressive regime that discriminates against women. They tried to silence me with torture and, ultimately, I was in jail for eight years.
I managed to avoid the death sentence after my father begged someone who was part of the regime. If it weren’t for him, I would have been executed. Soon after I was freed, I fled to the UK. When I first got here, all I could think about were my friends who’d been executed, the noise of the firing squad and the crying of the hungry children of female inmates. I frequently had flashbacks to the torture, and to this day still think about my father’s face when I told him I’d been sentenced to death.
But I was lucky, I was able to get out. I’ve had the chance to recover and rebuild my life here, but my heart aches for the women who are still being tortured in jail.
Human rights defender Zeinab Jalalian has been in prison for 16 years after her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. She has suffered so much physical and mental torture and is being denied access to essential medical care. The plight of female prisoners in Evin was particularly prominent while Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was held there from 2016 – 2022, as her husband campaigned tirelessly for her release.
In Iran, there are lots of misog
