Narges Mohammadi: Evin Prison writings smuggled and violations exposed in new memoirs

During her detention in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi continued to smuggle various writings with the help of her friends and colleagues in prison.

The risks were enormous; Mohammadi (54 years old) was severely beaten, suffered from serious health problems, and spent most of the past two decades behind bars - away from her children - due to her anti-Iranian regime activity.

Speaking on Wednesday to CNN colleague Jumana Karadsheh - one of her first interviews since her release in May on temporary medical leave - Mohammadi said: “One of my friends tried to take out only three papers during the day of the visit, but the prison security forces confiscated them from her.”

In another incident, more than 20 of her notebooks were lost after she said she was severely beaten and forcibly transferred to another prison. Despite this, she continued writing, not caring about the price she might pay for speaking out about her positions, and she turned those scattered writings into a memoir entitled “A Woman Who Never Stops Struggling,” which is scheduled to be published this month in some European countries.

In the book, Mohammadi reveals new details about the people responsible for her mistreatment during her detention in prison, saying: “In order to document these matters, it is better to talk openly about their methods, and to expose and expose the torture practices they commit.”

This came while she was wearing a multi-colored dress with the word “peace” printed on it in different languages, and sitting in front of a picture of “Mahsa Gina Amini,” who was killed after being detained by the Iranian morality police, which led to the outbreak of protests that spread across the country in the fall of 2022.

Publishing a book like this carries risks; “There may be consequences, but this is the nature of life for us in this region and this country,” Mohammadi said.

She also acknowledged the possibility of being exposed to reprisals for speaking to CNN, but stressed that she was not worried, and that speaking publicly was her “duty,” and to avoid exposing her to further risks, the network agreed with her that the meeting would focus on her new memoirs and personal experiences, instead of focusing on recent events in Iran.

“If I could go back to the moment I started my struggle, to every moment I was arrested, even knowing what would happen to me, I would definitely make the same choice to start the struggle,” she said, pointing to her twins, who are now 19 years old. “But when I look at Ali and Kiana, I have doubts. Did I really have the right to deprive them of a very normal life, of having their mother by their side? This is the difficult side of the issue, and I cannot answer it with certainty.”

According to its affiliated institution, Mohammadi - one of the most prominent human rights activists in Iran - was sentenced to more than 44 years in prison and 154 lashes, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee reported in February - based on “credible reports” - that during her last period of detention between December and May, she was subjected to beatings and “life-threatening ill-treatment.”

These reports indicated that she was repeatedly beaten with wooden sticks and batons during her arrest in December, and was dragged to the ground by her hair, resulting in open wounds on her head. She was also repeatedly kicked in the pelvic area and genitals, causing her excruciating pain and making her unable to sit or lead a normal life, Jorgen Watne Fredness, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told CNN in February.

“I was placed in solitary confinement for two months in that state, without being allowed to make phone calls or see my family or even my lawyer,” Mohammadi recalls.

She suffered a suspected heart attack in March, lost 20 kilograms (44 pounds), and her condition deteriorated to the point that her life was in “grave danger,” her foundation warned in April.

After months of neglect by the authorities, she was transferred to the hospital, where she spent 18 days suffering from heart disease caused by chronic anxiety and stress, according to what her foundation stated. At that time, Tasnim, one of the semi-official Iranian news agencies, denied reports that her health condition had deteriorated. Mohammadi was eventually released from the hospital and allowed to return home temporarily, and she says she continues to receive medical treatment.

Mohammadi said that keeping prisoners in solitary confinement is “one of the government’s tools” to “destroy people” rather than simply executing them; The goal is to “break them psychologically, emotionally, and physically, strip them of their identity and humanity, and distort and undermine their perception.”

She said that depriving prisoners of timely access to medical care is "another way to put their health at serious risk, and in some cases lead to their death," adding that "these deaths constitute a kind of silent execution."

The Iranian government and state media have downplayed Mohammadi's allegations of mistreatment, despite eyewitness testimony and widespread international condemnation.

Despite the risks associated with opposing the regime, Iran has witnessed two large-scale protest movements in recent years. One was in January, and the other was in the fall of 2022, which was sparked by the death of the young woman, Amini (22 years old). Both movements were met with violent crackdowns by the authorities.

Mohammadi said: “If you look at the streets of Tehran, and even at cities across the country, you will see how women stand tall and brave in the streets... Through the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement, we were able to crystallize the power of the protester and present it to the world. The person who took to the streets faced beatings, killing, imprisonment and execution, yet he possessed a sense of strength and legitimacy that forced the government to retreat.”

For Mohammadi, who lives in a state of constant combination of the identities of mother and activist, her book represents a tribute to those fighting for democracy, and at the same time “the words of a mother who wrote this book while she was in prison,” while her children lived far away from her in exile in France.

“Ali and Kiana have always been the force that brought me life and gave me hope,” she says. “I hope to see them and hold them close to my chest, to see how much they have grown - to know whether I am now at their level or they have reached my level - and to stand next to them again.”