“Patriarchal domination is maintained over the heads of Iranian women from birth to death,” denounces Nargès Mohammadi
“From Birth to Death, Patriarchy Dominates the Lives of Iranian Women,” Declares Mohammadi
January 23, 2025
Temporarily released from Tehran’s Evin prison on a 21-day sentence suspension, women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi addressed the French Senate. Despite the risks she faces for speaking out, she urged the French government to take concrete action in support of Iranians resisting the Islamic regime.
Speaking via videoconference before the women’s rights delegations of the French Senate and National Assembly, Mohammadi called for global efforts to combat gender apartheid in Iran. She condemned the inhumane conditions in Iranian prisons, particularly the treatment of women detainees, and shed light on the brutal methods used to silence dissent.
“The Reality of Iranian Prisons: Torture, Rape, and Psychological Abuse”
Physical and psychological torture, rape, and sexual violence—Mohammadi sounded the alarm on the horrifying abuses inside Iran’s prisons.
Her testimony comes nearly two and a half years after the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman beaten to death by Iran’s morality police in Tehran. Amini’s death ignited a nationwide uprising, giving rise to the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, which not only challenged Iran’s oppressive laws but also questioned the very legitimacy of the regime.
As one of the leading voices of this movement, Mohammadi emphasized that the fight against gender apartheid is not just about liberating women from oppression—it is a struggle for democracy, peace, and freedom for all.
“I Haven’t Seen My Children in Ten Years”: Narges Mohammadi Speaks Before the French Parliament
January 23, 2025
“I am a 52-year-old woman. I have two children, and I haven’t seen them for ten years.” With these words, Iranian women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi addressed French senators and deputies from the women’s rights delegation and the foreign affairs committee. The hearing, conducted under exceptional circumstances, took place via videoconference from Iran, where she remains imprisoned.
A longtime target of the Iranian regime, Mohammadi has spent more than a decade behind bars, most recently in Evin Prison, infamous for detaining political dissidents. On December 4, 2024, she was temporarily released for 21 days following surgery to remove a tumor from her leg. Despite the risks, she remains defiant:
“There is no turning back. No matter which side of the prison walls I stand on, I will continue this fight. I am ready to pay the price—I am already paying it.”
Her words moved parliamentarians, many of whom expressed deep admiration for her unwavering courage.
Defying Reimprisonment as an Act of Civil Disobedience
Mohammadi’s temporary leave ended on December 25, 2024—Christmas Day. Now, at risk of immediate re-arrest, she continues her activism outside prison in defiance of the regime.
“After my operation, my doctors sent letters to the court stating that I required medical supervision. Yet, just 48 hours later, I was sent back to prison. For 22 days, I endured harsh conditions without post-surgical care. Then, I was granted a 21-day leave. Now that it has expired, I have received no updates on my status. My lawyers requested an extension, but the authorities have refused to respond.”
With her fate hanging in the balance, Mohammadi persists in her fight for justice—knowing that at any moment, she could once again be taken back behind bars.
Since her temporary release, Narges Mohammadi has repeatedly spoken out in the media and before international institutions. Closely monitored by the Iranian regime, each of her public statements risks triggering further judicial harassment.
During her hearing before the French Parliament, the connection was interrupted several times—most notably when Véronique Riotton, president of the National Assembly’s Women’s Rights Delegation, asked about France’s role in supporting Iranian women.
This was no mere technical issue, as Chirinne Ardakani, legal representative of the Narges Mohammadi Foundation in France, emphasized:
“The Iranian regime deliberately censors, filters, and slows down internet access. This is the reality in which we receive Narges Mohammadi’s words. In the Islamic Republic, nothing comes without a price. Even holding this hearing today has required great sacrifices from many.”
“Put pressure on the regime of the Islamic Republic! Instead of normalizing a regime guilty of crimes against humanity”
Asked repeatedly about her health and the risks she was taking by speaking so freely, Narges Mohammadi ultimately said little about her personal situation. Throughout her hearing, the Iranian activist punctuated her remarks with calls for French and Western powers to act. ” I call on France, through its parliament and government, to make human rights a priority and the central focus prior to any relation with Islamic Republic Regime. I emphasize that any negotiations that sideline fundamental human rights, women’s rights, and civil liberties serve only to embolden religious authoritarianism and undermine the Iranian people’s fight for democracy, freedom, and equality.”
Narges Mohammadi urges the international community to resist the Iranian regime’s attempts at normalization on the global stage and instead extend meaningful support to civil society.
“To dismantle this tyrannical religious system, we must return power to the Iranian people—students, teachers, workers, human rights defenders, and environmental activists—who are fighting across all layers of society,” she asserts. “For 30 years, I have been part of numerous activist groups, yet none have survived under the Islamic Republic. We have never received the international support we needed,” she laments.
In recent years, and especially since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, which ignited the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, international solidarity has grown stronger, Mohammadi acknowledges. However, she warns against mistaking the absence of mass street protests for an end to resistance.
“You may not see large demonstrations in Iran today, but that does not mean the movement has stopped,” she stresses. “Iranian society has developed increasingly creative ways to continue the fight—through the arts, in universities, and beyond.”
She points to two recent acts of defiance that went viral on social media: Ahou Daryaei, the student who stripped in the streets of Tehran in protest against compulsory dress codes, and singer Parastoo Ahmadi, who gave a virtual concert without her veil—an act of defiance viewed over two million times.
Gender Apartheid: “A Systemic and Powerful Discrimination Against Women”
For Narges Mohammadi, the fight for women’s rights must also extend to the legal sphere, with the formal recognition of “gender apartheid” in international law. She describes it as “a systemic and deeply entrenched discrimination against women in Iran.”
“The laws of the Islamic Republic are fundamentally designed to erase women from society,” Mohammadi explains. “These laws, combined with the imposition of compulsory religion, create an overwhelming force that subjugates women and seeks to make them invisible.”
Eyewitness to Sexual Assault and Harassment
A fierce opponent of the compulsory veil and the death penalty, Narges Mohammadi has spent a total of 25 years in prison for her activism. Temporarily released in December 2024 for medical reasons, she used her time outside prison to speak out about the horrific conditions inside Evin Prison, where she has been repeatedly detained.
Mohammadi recounted her time in solitary confinement and revealed that she had personally witnessed sexual assaults and harassment perpetrated by prison authorities against female detainees. She also highlighted a disturbing practice: the confinement of women protesters in psychiatric hospitals as a means of silencing dissent.
One of the most recent cases is that of Ahou Daryaei, the Iranian student who was arrested after stripping in public in front of her university in Tehran to protest dress restrictions. In an attempt to discredit her, authorities claimed she suffered from psychological instability and transferred her by ambulance to a psychiatric facility.
Mohammadi condemned this tactic, calling it a blatant act of repression:
“Ahou Daryaei transformed her body into a symbol of resistance. Instead of acknowledging her protest, the authorities weaponized mental health labels against her. I demand her immediate release and an end to the systematic harassment of women in Iran.”
“These places are used to crush dissent”
In addition, the human rights and women’s rights activist also spoke about “solitary confinement cells” that are unknown to the rest of the public. ” In Evin Prison , I heard a number of testimonies from women who were not held in official prisons,” she continued.
Narges Mohammadi also details that women have reported being “held in cars for extremely long periods of time” or in places they did not know. “These places are used to crush dissent,” she denounced, adding that the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran thus carry out “their physical or psychological torture in a hidden manner . ”
“Especially after the Women, Lives, and Freedom movement, I had access to many testimonies from women who presented themselves with bruises all over their bodies (…)” explained Narges Mohammadi. “I met a woman who had such bruises on her face that we were not even able to recognize her,” she added.
The activist also explained that she had heard the testimony of women student rights activists. She detailed the testimony, in particular, of a woman who was the victim of “sexual assault and rape in the car that was transporting her” to her place of imprisonment.
“Extremely worrying” information about the physical and mental state of Cécile Kohler
“We were arrested, thrown into cells, incarcerated. We lost our jobs, our children, our lives. Many women, anonymous, forgotten, under oppression and systemic discrimination, perished,” she continued.
Narges Mohammadi also spoke about the information she had about Cécile Kohler , the 40-year-old French teacher, arrested on May 7, 2022 in Iran with her partner Jacques Paris in Evin prison. The activist shared the same detention conditions as Cécile Kohler in Evin prison. She indicated that the latter was “still in the high security wing of the intelligence service of the Islamic Republic” . “The information I have is extremely worrying,” she assured, explaining that it was as much about her “physical state” as her “mental state” .
“سلطهی پدرسالاری از لحظهی تولد تا دمِ مرگ، بر زندگی زنان ایرانی سایه افکنده است.”
۲۳ ژانویه ۲۰۲۵
نرگس محمدی، فعال برجستهی حقوق زنان و برندهی جایزهی نوبل صلح، که بهطور موقت از زندان اوین آزاد شده است، در جمع نمایندگان مجلس سنای فرانسه و پارلمان این کشور سخنرانی کرد. او با پذیرش تمام مخاطرات ناشی از بیان حقیقت، از دولت فرانسه خواست که برای حمایت از مردم ایران در مبارزه علیه استبداد دینی اقدام کند.
محمدی روز پنجشنبه، ۲۳ ژانویه، در سخنرانی آنلاین خود در برابر هیئت زنان مجلس ملی و سنای فرانسه، نسبت به “آپارتاید جنسیتی” در ایران و افغانستان هشدار داد و وضعیت اسفناک زندانیان سیاسی، شکنجههای جسمی و روانی، تجاوز و آزارهای جنسی، بهویژه علیه زنان زندانی در ایران را بهشدت محکوم کرد.
نزدیک به دو سال و نیم پیش، ژینا (مهسا) امینی، دختر ۲۲ سالهای که توسط گشت ارشاد بازداشت شده بود، در پی ضربات باتوم در تهران جان باخت. قتل او موجی از خشم و اعتراض را در سراسر ایران به راه انداخت و جنبش “زن، زندگی، آزادی” را متولد کرد—جنبشی که اساس مشروعیت نظام را به چالش کشید.
محمدی، در خطاب به هیئت زنان مجلس ملی و سنای فرانسه، خود را فعال مدنی، مدافع حقوق بشر و حقوق زنان معرفی کرد و بر ضرورت مبارزه با آپارتاید جنسیتی در ایران تأکید کرد. او تصریح کرد که این مبارزه تنها برای رهایی زنان از سلطه و سرکوب نیست، بلکه راهی است بهسوی “دموکراسی، صلح و آزادی.”
منبع: وبسایت رسمی سنا، رز آملی بسل و روزنامهی اومانیته
“من زنی ۵۲ ساله هستم، دو فرزند دارم و ده سال است که آنها را ندیدهام.”
نرگس محمدی در این جلسه تأکید کرد که زندان هرگز او را ساکت نخواهد کرد:
“ما دیگر راه بازگشت نداریم. فرقی ندارد که درون یا بیرون دیوارهای زندان باشم، این مبارزه را ادامه خواهم داد. زندان نمیتواند صدای من را خاموش کند. من آمادهام بهایش را بپردازم، و همین حالا نیز در حال پرداخت آن هستم.”
آزادی موقت نرگس محمدی هر لحظه میتواند به پایان برسد. توقف اجرای حکم ۲۱ روزهی او در ۲۵ دسامبر ۲۰۲۴ منقضی شده است، و در حالی که وکلایش درخواست تمدید مرخصی را ارائه کردهاند، او همچنان به نافرمانی مدنی ادامه میدهد و از بازگشت به زندان در موعد مقرر سر باز زده است.محمدی توضیح داد:
” پس از عمل جراحی سنگینی که روی استخوان پایم انجام شد، پزشکان با ارسال نامههایی به زندان و دادگاه اعلام کردند که من باید تحت نظر پزشک باشم و بازگرداندنم به زندان خطرناک است. با این حال، تنها ۴۸ ساعت بعد، به زندان منتقل شدم. ۲۲ روز را در شرایطی بسیار سخت و بدون هیچگونه مراقبت پزشکی پس از یک عمل جراحی بزرگ در زندان اوین سپری کردم. سرانجام، یک مرخصی ۲۱ روزه به عنوان تعلیق حکم به من داده شد.”
از زمان آزادی موقت، محمدی بیوقفه و خستگیناپذیر در رسانهها و نهادهای بینالمللی سخنرانی کرده است. هر بار که سخنان او منتشر میشود، رژیم ایران میتواند او را تحت فشار و پیگرد قضایی جدید قرار داده و مجدداً به زندان بازگرداند.
در طول سخنرانی محمدی در مجلس فرانسه، چندین بار ارتباط ویدئویی به دلیل اینترنت ضعیف ایران قطع شد، از جمله زمانی که ورونیک ریوتون، رئیس هیئت زنان مجلس ملی، دربارهی نقش فرانسه در حمایت از زنان ایرانی از او پرسید. شرین اردکانی، وکیل ” بنیاد نرگس ” در فرانسه، که در این جلسه حضور داشت، تأکید کرد:
“رژیم ایران با سانسور، کاهش سرعت اینترنت و فیلترینگ، راههای ارتباطی را محدود میکند. امروز نیز در چنین شرایطی سخنان نرگس محمدی را میشنویم، به همین دلیل ارتباط مدام قطع میشود. در جمهوری اسلامی، هیچ چیز بدون هزینه نیست. حتی برگزاری این جلسه نیز نتیجهی فداکاری بسیاری از افراد است که بهای آن را خواهند پرداخت.”
محمدی در پاسخ به پرسشهای متعدد دربارهی سلامتیاش و خطراتی که با سخنرانیهای خود متحمل میشود، بهجای تمرکز بر شرایط شخصی خود، بر لزوم اقدام بینالمللی تأکید کرد:
” امروز از دولت فرانسه از طریق پارلمان و مجلس سنا این کشور میخواهم حقوق بشر را پیششرط و محور اصلی هر نوع مذاکرهای با رژیم جمهوری اسلامی قرار دهند. تأکید میکنم هر مذاکرهای با جمهوری اسلامی بدون اعتنا به حقوق اساسی مردم ایران، حقوق بشر، حقوق زنان و جامعهی مدنی، تقویت استبداد دینی و تضعیف مبارزهی مردم ایران برای رسیدن به دموکراسی، آزادی و برابری خواهد بود.”
آپارتاید جنسیتی: تبعیضی سیستماتیک و قدرتمند علیه زنان
محمدی تأکید کرد که مبارزهی زنان در ایران باید در سطح حقوقی نیز ادامه یابد و “آپارتاید جنسیتی” باید در حقوق بینالملل به رسمیت شناخته شود:
“قوانین جمهوری اسلامی ذاتاً ضد زن هستند. هدف آنها حذف زنان از جامعه است. حال اگر این قوانین را با یک ایدئولوژی مذهبی تحمیلی ترکیب کنید، متوجه خواهید شد که چه قدرت سرکوبگری علیه زنان اعمال میشود.”
شهادت دربارهی “آزار جنسی” و “تجاوز” در زندان
محمدی که ۱۳۵ روز را در سلول انفرادی گذرانده، شهادت داد که شاهد “تجاوز و آزار جنسی” زنان زندانی توسط مقامات زندان بوده است. او همچنین به انتقال برخی از زنان معترض به بیمارستانهای روانی اشاره کرد. بهعنوان نمونه، آهو دریایی، دانشجویی که پس از اعتراض به حجاب اجباری در تهران بازداشت شد، توسط مقامات به داشتن مشکلات روانی متهم و به یک مرکز درمانی منتقل شد.
“این مکانها برای سرکوب مخالفان طراحی شدهاند”
محمدی توضیح داد که برخی زنان معترض نه در زندانهای رسمی، بلکه در مکانهای نامعلومی نگهداری میشوند:
“من شهادت زنانی را شنیدهام که برای مدت طولانی در خودروها نگه داشته شدهاند یا در مکانهایی که هیچ اطلاعی از آنها نداشتند. این روشها برای سرکوب و نابودی مخالفان استفاده میشود.”
وضعیت “بسیار نگرانکننده” سیسیل کولر
در پایان سخنانش، محمدی دربارهی وضعیت سیسیل کولر، معلم فرانسوی که از سال ۲۰۲۲ در ایران زندانی است، هشدار داد:
“اطلاعاتی که من دارم، هم از نظر جسمی و هم از نظر روحی، بسیار نگرانکننده است.”
