By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-09-14

Prominent Iranian civil and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has gone on hunger strike multiple times during the years she has spent in Iran's prisons, including Zanjan prison and the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Each time, Mohammadi broke her hunger strike after her friends, family, and fellow activists implored her to do so amid her extreme weakness and dire health.

She has recently written responses to new interview questions in Evin prison, saying she has not seen her children for eight years and acknowledging that she does not see an immediate prospect of release.

However, Mohammadi insists that her struggle is worthwhile, saying the protest movement that erupted one year ago in Iran against the Islamic Republic is still alive.

First arrested 22 years ago, Mohammadi, now 51, has spent much of the past two decades in and out of jail over her unstinting activism for human rights in Iran. She has most recently been incarcerated since November 2021.

In her answers from prison, she said the protests that broke out following the death of Mahsa Amini last year made the levels of dissatisfaction in society clear.

Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Iran's Kurdish town of Saqqez, died in custody of the regime's "morality police" last September 16 after being arrested on the streets of Tehran for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress rules for women.

"The government was not able to break the protests of the people of Iran, and I believe that society has achieved things that have weakened the foundations of religious-authoritarian rule," Mohammadi wrote.

"We have seen cycles of protests in recent years, and this shows the irreversible nature of the situation and the scope for the expansion of the protests."

'Prison will not kill me'

She said that after "44 years of oppression, discrimination and continuous repression of the government against women in public and personal life," the protests had "accelerated the process of realizing democracy, freedom and equality in Iran."

Mohammadi, whom observers tip as a Nobel Peace Prize candidate, said the protests had involved people "beyond urban areas and educated classes" at a time when religious authority was "losing its place" in society.

"The weakening of the religious element has created a vacuum that the government has not been able to fill with other economic and social factors, as the government is essentially ineffective and corrupt," she wrote.

Yet, she said, foreign governments "have not recognized the progressive forces and leaders in Iran and pursued policies aimed at perpetuating the religious-authoritarian system in Iran."

Mohammadi said she was currently serving a combined sentence of 10 years and nine months in prison, had also been sentenced to 154 lashes and had five cases against her linked to her activities in jail.

She has been interviewed by multiple news outlets and has written several letters from prison over the course of her imprisonment.

In 2018, she told Euro News that "prison will not kill me."

'Holding on to hope'

Mohammadi says she has "kept the hope of seeing the light of freedom and hearing its voice."

These days, she says, she moderates discussions in the women's wing of Evin prison and organizes activities such as singing and dancing.

"Prison has always been at the core of opposition, resistance and struggle in my country, and for me it also embodies the essence of life in all its beauty."

"The Evin women's wing is one of the most active, resistant and joyful quarters of political prisoners in Iran. During my years in prison, on three occasions, I've shared detention with at least 600 women, and I am proud of each of them."

On September 9, the French daily Le Monde published the translations of letters that five female inmates have written and sneaked out of prison, one of whom is Mohammadi.

The other four prisoners are longtime rights activists Sepideh Gholian, Niloufar Bayani, Golrokh Iraee and Zeynab Jalalian.

Immense personal cost

Mohammadi said she has missed much of the childhood of her twin children Kiana and Ali who now live in France with her husband, Taghi Rahmani, a fellow activist who was also imprisoned in Iran and left the country with his children after his release.

Rahmani has been actively advocating for Mohammadi, spoken on her behalf, and has steadily kept the world aware of his wife's condition over the years.

Mohammadi has been released on furlough a few times over the recent years after experiencing weakness or physical problems but has not been able to see her husband and children as they live in France.

Restrictions on her telephone calls in the past 18 months have kept Mohammadi from even hearing her children's voices.

"My most incurable and indescribable suffering is the longing to be with my children from whose lives I departed when they were eight."

"The price of the struggle is not only torture and prison; it is a heart that breaks with every regret and a pain that strikes to the marrow of your bones."

But, she added, "I believe that as long as democracy, equality and freedom have not been achieved, we must continue to fight and sacrifice."