Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who is currently behind bars, is anticipated to launch a fresh hunger strike, her family announced on 9th December. The 51-year-old is expected to receive the esteemed honour on 10th December in Norway’s Oslo. However, she won’t be able to attend because she is imprisoned in Iran at the moment.
Her 51-year-old husband and Iranian journalist Taghi Rahmani, and her younger brother Hamidreza Mohammadi, informed at a press conference in Oslo, “She is not here with us today, she is in prison and she will be on a hunger strike in solidarity with a religious minority but we feel her presence here.”
Her husband stated that the strike was a show of support for the largest religious minority, people of the Baha’i faith. The strict Islamic regime persecutes and discriminates against Baha’i faith adherents. Two of the community’s prominent leaders, Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi, have started refusing food in protest of the persecution. Rahmani added, “She said that ‘I will start my hunger strike on the day that I am being granted this prize, perhaps then the world will hear more about it’.”
The human rights advocate had reportedly begun her three-day hunger strike 24 hours before the ceremony, according to a post on her Instagram account. It read, “On the day of the Nobel Prize ceremony, I want to be the voice of Iranians protesting against injustice and oppression.” Her friends are in charge of her Instagram.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in October “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.” She is known for her advocacy against compulsory hijab and the death penalty there and has been held at the Evin jail in Tehran since 2021. Ali Rahmani and Kiana Rahmani, her 17-year-old twins, who have been living in France since 2015 and haven’t seen their mother in nearly nine years, are set to represent her at the event in Oslo.
The two are going to read a speech written by their mother that was smuggled outside the Tehran prison. On 7th December, Ali stated he was “optimistic” about a reunion, while Kiana expressed her “pessimism” about potentially meeting her mother again.
Narges Mohammadi has spent a large portion of the last 20 years in and out of jail. She has been arrested 13 times, convicted five times to a total of 31 years in prison and inflicted 154 lashes.
Narges Mohammadi served as the Defenders of Human Rights Center’s Vice President in the past. The Norwegian Nobel Committee unveiled it awarded the Nobel Prize to her “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” They noted, “Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs.” However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry objected to the decision and labelled it “biased and politically motivated.”
Mohammadi was born in Zanjan and studied physics at the Imam Khomeini International University. She distinguished herself as a champion of women’s rights and equality while attending college. Following her graduation, she worked as an engineer and contributed reform-focused pieces to several periodicals.
Nargis Mohammadi became a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran in 2003, which was founded by Shirin Ebadi, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. After being apprehended for the first time in 2011, Mohammadi was given an extended jail sentence in recognition of her assistance to activists and their families. She concentrated on her opposition to the death penalty after receiving bail in 2013. She endured prison time for an additional year in 2015 after being arrested once more.
She is one of the women leading the “Woman, Life, Freedom” revolution. The uprising included months-long demonstrations throughout Iran after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody in September 2022. The young woman had been detained after being arrested for allegedly disobeying the Islamic Republic’s rigid dress codes for women. According to their lawyer, her parents and brother, who were supposed to accept the Sakharov Prize which was given posthumously to Amini in a separate event in France on 10th December, are not allowed to leave Iran.
