For Narges Mohammadi, time in solitary confinement is not measured by clocks or calendars, but by the movement of a few thin strands of sunlight. In a cell with no ventilation, the only connection to the outside world is a window set high against the ceiling, covered by a perforated metal sheet. These tiny holes serve as the sole indicator of the passing day; when the golden rays disappear, night has arrived.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s account, smuggled out of Iran’s notorious prison system, describes a calculated process of psychological erosion. To Mohammadi, the cell is not merely a room, but a physical weight—a “density” that compresses time and wrinkles the mind. In this void, a short nap can feel like the passage of years, leaving the prisoner unsure if they have woken up in the same day, the previous one, or a tomorrow that refuses to arrive.
These writings, part of her upcoming autobiography A Woman Never Stops Fighting, provide a rare, visceral glimpse into the “white torture” employed within Tehran’s Evin, Qarchak, and Zanjan prisons. For Mohammadi, an activist who has spent years campaigning for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty, the isolation is a weapon designed to reduce human agency to zero.
The Ritual of the Blindfold
The transition from the silence of the cell to the violence of interrogation is marked by a ringing bell. Because male interrogators are forbidden from entering the women’s corridor, a female warden retrieves the prisoner. Mohammadi describes the sound of the warden’s plastic slippers “drilling” into her brain, a rhythmic precursor to the dread of the unknown.
The process is one of systematic stripping of identity. Prisoners are forced into loose, plastic-like dark-blue clothes that irritate the skin, and required to don a chador and a blindfold before stepping out of the cell. This deprivation of sight is a deliberate tactic; as Mohammadi notes, “not seeing breeds fear,” and in an environment of absolute repression, that fear multiplies.
Once inside the interrogation room, the atmosphere shifts to what she describes as the “stench of hatred.” Frozen “like a block of ice” in a plastic chair, Mohammadi faced interrogators who used the promise of returning to her children as a lever for cooperation. They sought to frame the Defenders of Human Rights Center—an organization she has long been associated with—as an American espionage project.
One of the most poignant details of her testimony is the use of prayer beads. In traditional Iranian households, these beads are symbols of devotion and childhood memories of fragrant prayer rugs. However, in the hands of her interrogators, they became objects of repulsiveness, passed to her at the end of sessions as a perverse reminder of the power dynamic at play.
The Psychology of ‘White Torture’
Solitary confinement in the Iranian system is often referred to as “white torture” because it leaves no visible scars on the body, instead attacking the mind through sensory deprivation and isolation. Mohammadi draws on the expertise of fellow activists—including a psychiatrist—to explain how this method systematically breaks a person down.
The experience is compared by various detainees to being buried in a grave or submerged in freezing water. For Mohammadi, it felt like being a child trapped in the arms of a monster. The physical environment is designed to reinforce helplessness: the heavy metal door, which can only be opened from the outside, ceases to be a door and becomes a wall, symbolizing the total loss of choice.
| Prison Element | Psychological Impact | Strategic Intent |
|---|---|---|
| Perforated Metal Sheet | Temporal Disorientation | Erasure of time and routine |
| Mandatory Blindfold | Hyper-vigilance/Terror | Increase vulnerability through sightlessness |
| Medical Neglect | Physical and Mental Decay | “Slow execution” of political dissidents |
| Sensory Deprivation | Psychological Fragmentation | Breaking the will to resist interrogation |
Medical Neglect as a Political Tool
Beyond the psychological warfare of solitary confinement, Mohammadi highlights a more lethal strategy: the deliberate denial of healthcare. She describes medical checkups as ordeals requiring clearance from multiple security and judicial agencies, often resulting in delays that turn treatable conditions into emergencies.
According to Mohammadi, this neglect is not accidental but a “deliberate strategy to silently eliminate opposition.” By allowing the human body to fail rather than using an executioner’s rope, authoritarian regimes can remove dissidents while maintaining a thin veil of deniability. Her family and international human rights monitors have repeatedly characterized this treatment as a “slow execution.”
Mohammadi’s health has deteriorated significantly during her repeated incarcerations, with reports of severe weight loss and critical medical crises. Her struggle is emblematic of a broader pattern in Iran, where the judiciary frequently uses health-related sentence suspensions only to rearrest activists during subsequent crackdowns.
Disclaimer: This article discusses themes of psychological torture and medical neglect. For those affected by similar experiences, resources are available through the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
As the international community continues to call for the release of Narges Mohammadi, her smuggled writings serve as a living archive of the cost of dissent in Iran. The next critical checkpoint for her case remains the ongoing appeals regarding her medical care and the pressure from UN human rights rapporteurs for her unconditional release.
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