2023-10-06 14:05:30
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Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner is Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, who fights for human and women’s rights in Iran. At 51, she is in prison for her fight against the local regime.
The Iranian regime has arrested Narges several times. The activist was convicted five times and sentenced to 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. At this moment, she lives in prison isolation, and has not spoken to her children for over a year.
History
Narges began to get involved in activism in the 1990s, when he was studying physics at university. At the time, she founded women’s groups and groups defending the rights of the population.
It was at college that she met her husband, fellow activist and journalist Taghi Rahmani. For the past 30 years, both have been fighting against the Iranian regime.
After completing her studies, Narges worked as an engineer and as a columnist for several local newspapers. In 2003, she became involved with the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Tehran, the capital of Iran, an entity founded by Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.
Narges was first arrested in 2011 for helping imprisoned activists. Two years later, she was released on bail. At the time, she began fighting in a campaign against the death penalty in Iran, one of the countries that executes the most citizens.
Her struggle led to her being arrested again in 2015. Narges then began to strongly oppose the Iranian regime’s systematic use of torture and sexual violence against political prisoners, especially women.
Last year, during a strong wave of protests against the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was in Iranian police custody, Narges assumed leadership of the movement from inside prison. It was at this time that stricter conditions were imposed on her in prison, such as a ban on receiving telephone calls and visitors.
This year, even under these conditions, Narges managed to clandestinely give a rare interview to the American newspaper The New York Times. “The more they punish me, the more determined I become to fight until we achieve democracy and freedom and nothing less,” she said.
Personal life
During her life of activism, Narges missed important family moments. The Iranian has a set of twin sons, now 16 years old, who she has not seen for more than eight years. The last time she spoke to them on the phone was more than a year ago.
The twins live with their father in France, where Taghi, now 63, is in exile, after also being imprisoned in Iran.
In an interview with the New York Times, Narges and
Taghi said that the son often says he is proud of his mother’s fight, while the daughter questions their parents’ decision to have children when activism comes first in their lives.
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