Message of Narges Mohammadi Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for her twin children on their 18th birthday.
Message of Narges Mohammadi Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for her twin children on their 18th birthday.
Here is her full message:
“Dear Ali and Kiana,
We stand with the people and are part of the people.
This is the tenth birthday I am spending away from your loving embrace, confined in the corners of this notorious prison of religious tyranny.
On the night of your birthday, overwhelmed with fear and hardship, I take refuge in my “memories.” Over the past ten years, my memory has been devoid of any images of being with you. It is a bitter reality with no escape. I look back to the abrupt point where my memories ceased—just before that moment, there was an abundance of cherished memories. I never thought I could endure such heartbreak, standing on the edge of separation and slipping into the void of loss, left only with memories that will never be renewed.
On the 13th of Nov 2024, after my bone surgery, as I regained consciousness, my entire body, my teeth, and my hands were trembling. I could hear my teeth chattering. My exhausted eyes searched for a familiar face, and my hands, more restless than my fractured and wounded bones, sought the warmth of a loving hand. But what I found were guards, officers, and prison wardens. A voice arose from my throat, a voice I believe only I could hear: Kiana… Ali…
The absence of new memories in my mind, the lack of credibility of memories older than ten years, brought to life those distant memories within me: Ali… Kiana…
The pain pump delivered morphine into my veins, yet the burning in my bones persisted. My bone marrow was on fire. How terribly “familiar” this ruthless pain felt. Though I had never experienced a fracture before, this pain seemed like an old acquaintance. I “remembered.”
On the 1st of Ordibehesht, 1391 (April 20, 2012), when the officers dragged me out of Mom and Dad’s house, you were running with your little feet, holding toys in your hands, clutching tightly to the corner of my clothes with your small hands. When they tore you away from me, my bone marrow burned. Without screaming, with legs aching as if fractured, I was dragged into solitary confinement, where I felt the tyranny deep into my bones.
On the 26th of Tir, 1394 (July 17, 2015), at 5 a.m., as you both boarded a flight, the pain gripping my chest was not of flesh and skin but something much deeper. I was lying on my bed, during the enforced silence of the prison’s rest hours. I swallowed my sobs, hot and loud. I was burning from the pain. I “remembered.” At that moment, my bones burned. On the surface, no one had fractured or carved into my bones, but they burned as if shattered.
In the world of unconsciousness, I came to know “pain.” We have burned to the marrow of our bones under the tyranny of religious oppression.
” Tyranny,” this disgraceful phenomenon in human history, is the destroyer of both “humanity” and “life.” We are enduring the harshest form of tyranny, known as “religious tyranny.”
My dearest Ali and Kiana,
You have endured countless hardships because of me, and I hope you can forgive me. But let us remember that we, too, alongside millions of Iranians, bear witness to the pain inflicted by religious tyranny as we strive to fight against it, in the hope of a brighter future for this land.
We stand with the people and are part of the people.”
Happy Birthday,
Mom, Narges
Evin Prison – Tehran
27th Nov 2024
