The Nobel Peace Prize was yesterday to be handed out in Oslo, but with the notable absence of winner Narges Mohammadi, who was to be represented by her children, as she is in prison.
Iranian activist Mohammadi — a staunch opponent of the mandatory wearing of the hijab for Iranian women and of the death penalty in her home country — has been arrested and convicted many times in recent decades.
She has been detained since 2021 in Tehran’s Evin Prison, and is to miss the glitzy award ceremony at 1om in Oslo City Hall, where she was to receive the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in October “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.”
Photo: Reuters
Instead, her 17-year-old twins Ali and Kiani, were to receive the award on her behalf and read out a speech that she managed to smuggle out of her cell.
Her family has said that Mohammadi would be observing a hunger strike at the same time, in solidarity with the Baha’i community.
Representatives of Iran’s largest religious minority say it is the target of discrimination in many areas of society.
Mohammadi, who has poor health, went on a hunger strike for several days early last month to obtain the right to be transferred to hospital without wearing a head covering.
She is one of the women spearheading the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising, which included months-long protests across Iran triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, died on Sept. 16 last year, while being held by Iran’s religious police for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
Mohammadi’s twins, who have been living in exile in France since 2015, do not know if they will ever see her again.
Ali Rahmani has faith. Kiana Rahmani is doubtful.
“The cause of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom,’ freedom in general and democracy are worth sacrificing yourself for and giving your life for, because in the end these three things are priceless,” Kiana Rahmani told reporters at a news conference in Oslo on Saturday.
She said that the attention her mother received for being awarded the Nobel prize was likely to make the Iranian authorities curtail her freedom further.
“Maybe I’ll see her in 30 or 40 years, but if not, I don’t think I’ll ever see her again, but that’s okay because my mother will always be with me in my heart and with my family,” Kiana Rahmani said.
In contrast, Ali Rahmani said he was “very, very optimistic,” even if it probably won’t happen “in two, five or 10 years”.
“I believe in our victory”, he told reporters, sitting next to his sister.
“Victory is not easy but it is certain,” he said, quoting his mother.
Last month, the EU awarded its top rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, to Amini and the global movement her death triggered.
Her family’s lawyer in France, Chirinne Ardakani, said that Amini’s parents and brother had been “prohibited from boarding the flight that was to take them to France for the presentation of the Sakharov Prize.”
She said the family had been banned from leaving Iran despite having a valid visa, and their passports had been confiscated.
Ardakani said Iranian authorities “have never been so mobilized to prevent the families of the victims from speaking to the international community.”
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