Narges Mohammadi Speaks as Honorary Guest at Women’s Press Freedom Review Meeting: Exposing the Dire Conditions of Journalists in Iran

21th Feb 2025 – Tehran / Iran

Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is temporarily released from prison and is expected to return soon, attended the Women’s Press Freedom Review Meeting as an honorary guest. In this gathering, she addressed the escalating repression of journalists in Iran, highlighting the grave risks they face, including imprisonment, torture, and execution.

Journalists from around the world expressed their solidarity with their Iranian colleagues and with Narges Mohammadi, emphasizing the urgent need to defend press freedom and support those who risk everything to report the truth.

Here is Narges Mohammadi’s Speech for this session : 

“Friends, journalists, and defenders of press freedom,

It is an honor to speak at the Women’s Press Freedom Review Meeting organized by the Coalition for Women in Journalism, which has been a strong supporter of women journalists in Iran and of myself personally. I thank them for their support.

I am very pleased to be among you and to hear your opinions.

I am attending this session under a temporary sentence suspension and will soon be sent back to prison. This is my first time outside prison since the Woman, Life, Freedom movement emerged in Iran following the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini.

The Woman, Life, Freedom movement represents the strength, determination, and agency of women in their fight against religious tyranny. The Iranian regime is a anti-woman, dictatorship with the subjugation of women at the core of its strategy. The people of Iran are fighting for a future beyond the Islamic Republic.

In Iran protesters are being arrested and imprisoned, and executions have escalated.

Today, at least 64 political and ideological prisoners are on death row—3 of them are women: Pakhshan Azizi, Varisheh Moradi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi.

After 15 years, the regime has once again placed women on death rows…

Journalists in Iran are under more pressure than ever, brutally facing imprisonment, arrest, and torture simply for doing their job—telling the truth.

In a time that journalism itself is under attack, and women journalists are being targeted the most, solidarity is more essential than ever.

As women in journalism, as women’s rights activists we must stand together across borders, united in sisterhood, and continue our fight for truth, justice, and press freedom.

I remain hopeful for change in Iran—transitioning from dictatorship to democracy.

And I urge you, as journalists, activists & feminists, to be the voice of the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy, freedom, equality, and lasting peace.”

 

Narges Mohammadi