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Narges Mohammadi

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Narges Mohammadi
نرگس محمدی
Born (1972-04-21) 21 April 1972 (age 52)
Zanjan, Iran
Other namesNarges Safie Mohammadi
EducationQazvin International University (BS)
Organizations
MovementNeo-Shariatism[1]
Spouse
​
(m. 2001)​
[2]
Children2
Awards

Narges Mohammadi (Persian: نرگس محمدی; born 21 April 1972) is an Iranian human rights activist. She is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi.[3] Mohammadi has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against the hijab in Iran and a vocal critic of the hijab and chastity program of 2023.[4][5] In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty."[6] She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021, where she has since given reports of the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women.

In October 2023, while in prison, she was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all."[7][8] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran condemned the decision.[9]

It was reported on 19 November 2024 that Narges Mohammadi underwent a complex surgery in Iran that saw part of a bone in her right leg removed over cancer fears but was immediately returned to prison, raising the risks to her life.[10]

Background

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Mohammadi was born on 21 April 1972[11] in Zanjan, Iran to an Iranian Azerbaijani family[12] and grew up in Karaj and the Kurdish cities of Qorveh and Oshnaviyeh.[13][14] She attended Qazvin International University, receiving a degree in physics, and became a professional engineer. During her university career, she wrote articles supporting women's rights in the student newspaper and was arrested at two meetings of the political student group Tashakkol Daaneshjuyi Roshangaraan ("Enlightened Student Group").[11][15] She was also active in a mountain climbing group but was later banned from joining climbs due to her political activities.[11]

Mohammadi went on to work as a journalist for several reformist newspapers and published a book of political essays titled The reforms, the Strategy and the Tactics.[15] In 2003, she joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi;[11] she later became the organization's vice president.[3]

In 1999, she married fellow pro-reform journalist Taghi Rahmani, who was soon arrested for the first time.[11][15] Rahmani moved to France in 2012 after serving 14 years of prison sentences, while Mohammadi remained to continue her human rights work.[3] Mohammadi and Rahmani have two children, a pair of twins.[11][3]

As other thinkers exploring the idea of Neo-Shariatism in the 1990s, they advanced a view of governance that "rejected the concept of an Islamic state and advocated (instead) a secular, or urfi, democracy".[16]

Imprisonment

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Mohammadi was first arrested in 1998 for her criticisms of the Iranian government and spent a year in prison.[15] In April 2010, she was summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court for her membership in the DHRC. She was briefly released on a US$50,000 bail but re-arrested several days later and detained at Evin Prison.[11][17] Mohammadi's health declined while in custody, and she developed an epilepsy-like disease, causing her to periodically lose muscle control. After a month, she was released and allowed to seek medical treatment.[17]

In July 2011, Mohammadi was prosecuted again[11] and found guilty of "acting against the national security, membership of the DHRC and propaganda against the regime."[17] In September, she was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment. Mohammadi stated that she had learned of the verdict only through her lawyers and had been "given an unprecedented 23-page judgement issued by the court in which they repeatedly likened my human rights activities to attempts to topple the regime."[17] In March 2012, the sentence was upheld by an appeals court, though it was reduced to six years.[18] On 26 April, she was arrested to begin her sentence.[3]

The sentence was protested by the British Foreign Office, which called it "another sad example of the Iranian authorities' attempts to silence brave human rights defenders."[17] Amnesty International designated her a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate release.[19] Reporters Without Borders issued an appeal on Mohammadi's behalf on the ninth anniversary of photographer Zahra Kazemi's death in Evin Prison, stating that Mohammadi was a prisoner whose life was "in particular danger."[20] In July 2012, an international group of lawmakers called for her release, including US Senator Mark Kirk, former Canadian Attorney General Irwin Cotler, UK MP Denis MacShane, Australian MP Michael Danby, Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein, and Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris.[21] On 31 July 2012, Mohammadi was released from prison.[22]

On 31 October 2014, Mohammadi made a speech at the gravesite of Sattar Beheshti, stating, "How is it that the Parliament Members are suggesting a Plan for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, but nobody spoke up two years ago when an innocent human being by the name of Sattar Beheshti died under torture in the hands of his interrogator?" The video of her speech quickly went viral on social media networks, resulting in Evin Prison court summoning her.

In the summons I received on 5 November 2014, it is stated that I must turn myself in 'for charges', but there is no further explanation about these charges.[23]

— Narges Mohammadi

On 5 May 2015, Mohammadi was once again arrested on the basis of new charges.[24] Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced her to ten years' imprisonment on the charge of "founding an illegal group" in reference to Legam (the Campaign for Step by Step Abolition of the Death Penalty), five years for "assembly and collusion against national security," a year for "propaganda against the system" for her interviews with international media and her March 2014 meeting with the EU's then High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton.[25] In January 2019, Mohammadi began a hunger strike with the detained British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Evin Prison to protest being denied access to medical care.[26] In July 2020, she showed symptoms of a COVID-19 infection, from which she appeared to have recovered by August.[27] On 8 October 2020, Mohammadi was released from prison.[28]

In March 2021, Mohammadi penned the foreword to the Iran Human Rights Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran:

The execution of people like Navid Afkari and Ruhollah Zam in the past year, have been the most ambiguous executions in Iran. Issuing the death penalty for Ahmadreza Djalali is one of the most erroneous sentences and the reasons for the issuance of these death sentences need to be carefully examined. These people have been sentenced to death after being held in solitary confinement and subjected to horrific psychological and mental torture, that is why I do not consider the judicial process to be fair or just; I see keeping defendants in solitary confinement, forcing them to make untrue and false confessions that are used as the key evidence in issuing these sentences. That's why I am particularly worried about the recent arrests in Sistan and Baluchistan and Kurdistan, and I hope that anti-death penalty organisations will pay special attention to the detainees because I fear that we will be facing another wave of executions over the coming year.[29]

In May 2021, Branch 1188 of Criminal Court Two in Tehran sentenced Mohammadi to two and a half years in prison, 80 lashes, and two separate fines for charges including "spreading propaganda against the system". Four months later, she received a summon to begin serving this sentence, which she did not respond to as she considered the conviction unjust.[30]

On 16 November 2021, Mohammadi was arrested in Karaj, Alborz, while attending a memorial for Ebrahim Ketabdar [fa], who was killed by Iranian security forces during nationwide protests in November 2019.[31] Her arrest was condemned as arbitrary by Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights.[30][32]

In December 2022, during the Mahsa Amini protests, the BBC published a report by Mohammadi detailing the sexual and physical abuse of detained women.[33] In January 2023, she gave a report from prison detailing the condition of women in Evin Prison, including a list of 58 prisoners and the interrogation process and tortures they have gone through.[34] 57 of these women have spent 8350 days in total under solitary confinement.[35] 56 of these women are sentenced to 3300 months in total.[36]

I declare once more that [solitary confinement] is a cruel and inhumane punishment, I will not rest until it is abolished.[37]

— Narges Mohammadi

Mohammadi has been an outspoken critic of solitary confinement, calling it "White Torture" in her 2022 book of the same name.[38] White Torture was translated to German with the title "Frauen! Leben! Freiheit!" (Women! Life! Freedom!) in 2023.[39] In September 2023, she supported Mehdi Yarrahi after his arrest for the protest song Roosarito.[40]

In May 2024, Mohammadi announced that she is facing fresh charges of offences against the state of Iran.[41] The Free Narges Coalition, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), expressed grave concern for Mohammadi's well-being and urged the Iranian authorities to release her and provide necessary medical care as her health had severely deteriorated. Medical tests indicated a critical need for treatment due to cardiovascular issues, gastrointestinal complications, and a herniated spinal disc, yet she was denied adequate care. The coalition, led by the Narges Foundation, PEN America, RSF, and Front Line Defenders, called on the global community to hold the Iranian government accountable and announced that the Free Narges Coalition would be featured at the Nobel Peace Conference 2024 in Oslo.[42]

Honors and awards

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Awards received by Mohammadi:

In 2010, when Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi won the Felix Ermacora Human Rights Award she dedicated it to Mohammadi. "This courageous woman deserves this award more than I do," Ebadi said.[54]

Works

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  • White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners. OneWorld Publications, 2022. ISBN 9780861545506

References

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  1. ^ Pourmokhtari Yakhdani, Navid (2018). Iran's Green Movement: A Foucauldian Account of Everyday Resistance, Political Contestation and Social Mobilization in the Post-Revolutionary Period (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). Edmonton: Department of Political Science, University of Alberta. p. 178. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  2. ^ Farangis Najibullah (27 February 2008). "Iran: Activist 'Dynamic Duo' Fight for Human Rights". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kamali Dehghan, Saeed (26 April 2012). "Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi arrested". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  4. ^ "نرگس محمدی: قدرت امتناع زنان، قدرت استبداد را درهم شکسته است" [Narges Mohammadi: The power of women's refusal has crushed the power of tyranny]. Deutsche Welle (in Persian). Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  5. ^ "نرگس محمدی: زنان و مبارزه با حجاب اجباری، راهبرد پایان دادن به جمهوری اسلامی هستند" [Narges Mohammadi asked the people who believe in hijab to "separate their line from the line of religious oppressors"]. BBC Persian (in Persian). 13 April 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  6. ^ Kamali Dehghan, Saeed (24 May 2016). "UN condemns 16-year jail sentence for Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  7. ^ "NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECEIVED BY CHILDREN OF IMPRISONED NARGES MOHAMMADI". Bru Times News. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Iran's jailed rights advocate Narges Mohammadi wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize". Al Jazeera. 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Nå blir det klart hvem som får Nobels fredspris 2023" [Now it becomes clear who will receive the Nobel Peace Prize 2023]. www.aftenposten.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Concerns grow for imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi's health in Iran". ABC News. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Muhammad Sahimi (10 May 2012). "Nationalist, Religious, and Resolute: Narges Mohammadi". PBS. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  12. ^ "Iranian Peace laureate Mohammadi: 'lioness' locked up for challenging Tehran". Reuters. 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023. Born in the city of Zanjan in northern Iran in 1972 into a family from Iran's Azeri ethnic minority, Mohammadi began her activism while a student studying physics at a university in nearby Qazvin.
  13. ^ "Nobel Peace Prize goes to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi". Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi gets Nobel Peace Prize". sawtbeirut.com. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Narges Mohammadi, from Iran, recepient [sic] of the international Alexander Langer award 2009". Alexander Langer Foundation. 18 June 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  16. ^ Shahibzadeh, Yadullah (2016). Islamism and Post-Islamism in Iran: An Intellectual History. Springer. p. 178. ISBN 9781137578259.
  17. ^ a b c d e Saeed Kamali Dehghan (28 September 2011). "Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  18. ^ Saeed Kamali Dehghan (7 March 2012). "Iran steps up crackdown on journalists and activists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  19. ^ "Urgent Action: human rights Defender imprisoned". Amnesty International. 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  20. ^ "Lives of several imprisoned journalists and netizens in danger". Reporters Without Borders. 10 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  21. ^ "International Lawmakers Call on Iran to Release Narges Mohammadi". kirk.senate.gov. 26 July 2012. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  22. ^ "Iran: List of human rights defenders behind bars". Worldwide Movement for Human Rights. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Iran: Judicial Harassment of Human Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi". www.gc4hr.org. 14 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  24. ^ Erdbrink, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Iran Arrests Prominent Rights Activist". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Iran Human Rights Defenders Report" (PDF). Iran Human Rights. 12 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  26. ^ "Zaghari-Ratcliffe to go on hunger strike in Iranian jail". The Irish Times. 3 January 2019. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Iran frees activist Narges Mohammadi, cuts her sentence". Deutsche Welle. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Iran frees prominent rights activist, news agency reports". Reuters. 8 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  29. ^ "Narges Mohammadi: Violence of Death Penalty is Worse Than War". Iran Human Rights. 30 March 2021. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  30. ^ a b "Iran: Release arbitrarily detained rights activist at imminent risk of flogging". Amnesty International. 18 November 2021. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  31. ^ Sinaee, Maryam (6 October 2023). "Prominent Rights Activist To Receive Lashes, Serve Time After Her Arrest". Iran International. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  32. ^ "IRAN: Narges Mohammadi back in prison to serve her 30 months prison sentence". International Federation for Human Rights. 19 November 2021. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  33. ^ Greenall, Robert (24 December 2022). "Iran protests: Activist Narges Mohammadi details 'abuse' of detained women". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  34. ^ "Jailed Rights Activists Recounts Ordeal Of Women In Evin Prison". Iran International. 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  35. ^ "Released Female Detainees Chant Anti-Regime Slogans In Front Of Evin Prison". Iran International. 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  36. ^ "Narges Mohammadi". IRAN-PROTESTS.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  37. ^ Simpson, John (16 December 2022). "White Torture by Narges Mohammadi review – solitary savagery". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  38. ^ Mohammadi, Narges (November 2022). White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners. London, UK: OneWorld Publications. ISBN 9780861545513.
  39. ^ Mohammadi, Narges (August 2023). Frauen! Leben! Freiheit! (in German). Rowohlt E-Book. ISBN 9783644019522.
  40. ^ "نرگس محمدی: مهدی یراحی با ترانه‌اش دسیسه وحشت استبداد دینی را بر سر حکومت آوار کرد" [Narges Mohammadi: Mehdi Yerahi destroyed the conspiracy of the terror of religious tyranny over the government with his song.]. Iran International (in Persian). 6 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  41. ^ Lipika Pelham (18 May 2024). "Iran's Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi says she faces new trial". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  42. ^ "RSF and the Free Narges Coalition call for Narges Mohammadi's urgent release as her health deteriorates in prison". 1 August 2024. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  43. ^ "2011: Narges Mohammadi". Forum för Levande Historia. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  44. ^ "Statement by the Human Rights Commissioner on the sentence against Iranian human rights defender Mohammadi". 29 September 2016.
  45. ^ "2018 Andrei Sakharov Prize Recipient". American Physical Society. 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  46. ^ "BBC 100 Women 2022: Who is on the list this year?". 6 December 2022. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  47. ^ "2023 – Marta Chumalo, Eren Keskin and Narges Mohammade | OLOF PALMES MINNESFOND". palmefonden.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  48. ^ Italie, Hillel (15 May 2023). "Imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi to receive PEN America's Freedom to Write Award". AP News. Archived from the original on 8 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  49. ^ "Three imprisoned Iranian women journalists awarded 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  50. ^ Fouche, Gwladys; Little, Tom (6 October 2023). "Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins 2023 Nobel Peace Prize". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  51. ^ "۵ زن ایرانی در میان چهره‌های پیشنهاد شده برای دریافت جایزه صلح نوبل" [5 Iranian women among the figures proposed to receive the Nobel Peace Prize]. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  52. ^ "حمایت از زنان ایران در ادامه واکنش‌های گسترده و جهانی به نوبل صلح نرگس محمدی" [Supporting the women of Iran in the continuation of the widespread and global reactions to Narges Mohammadi's Nobel Peace Prize]. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  53. ^ "An Iranian women's rights activist won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. She wasn't there to accept it". ABC News Online. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2024.[ Archived 15 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ "Iranian Nobel Laureate Dedicates Prize To Jailed Colleague". Radio Free Europe. 16 June 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
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