Since then, two women continue on indefinite hunger strike in the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison in Iran, demanding a medical furlough and urgent medical treatment for their wardmates Narges Mohammadi and Varisheh Moradi.^[1]

Why Do Iran’s Theocrats Hate and Fear Narges Mohammadi and Those Like Her?

In Iran and parts of Europe, Narges Mohammadi is widely known, rightly beloved as an inspiring example and symbol of unrelenting resistance against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and the hope for a better world among millions. She is known for defending the rights of others, such as her letter sounding an alarm about the life threatening situation for her cellmate Nahid Taghavi.

An IEC statement following her 2023 Nobel Peace Prize award, titled “Uncompromising Voice of Political Prisoner Narges Mohammadi Must Not Be Silenced – Be Her Voice Now,” is still very relevant even if some details have changed.

For some 30 years, Narges Mohammadi has been a fierce, courageous and selfless fighter against Iran’s Islamic Republic (IRI) – a misogynist theocracy. Over these years she’s been arrested 13 times, convicted in sham trials five times, and sentenced a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes (i.e., whipping). She’s now serving a 10-year sentence for “anti-state propaganda” in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. Yet repeated imprisonments and torture, and tremendous personal sacrifices, even a heart attack in prison, haven’t stopped her. She’s continued to fight for Iran’s people, especially women, vigorously opposing the IRI’s medieval mandatory hijab law requiring women to cover their hair and bodies, as well as the sexual assault and harassment women face under the regime’s patriarchal rule. She’s been organizing prison protests and workshops, issued statements and articles, even written a book, White Torture, on the solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, and other forms of torture and abuse Iran’s prisoners suffer.Motahareh Goonei, Narges’ cellmate on hunger strike in Evin (a dentistry student expelled from Tehran University and sentenced to one year in prison for protesting the death sentence of rapper Toomaj Salehi), wrote:

In Evin Women’s Ward, four prisoners are over 70 years old, and more than 18 are over 60.… Daily life for them is extraordinarily difficult and exhausting. As a doctor in prison, I have witnessed the inappropriate and unprofessional actions of the medical staff, who are often incapable even of basic care such as wound dressing—[T]he deliberate denial of timely medical care, coupled with the deplorable state of prison healthcare facilities, has weaponized medicine as a tool of torture—ultimately amounting to ‘enforced death’ for prisoners.

Goonei, and the other Evin wardmate on hunger strike, Vida Rabbani (a journalist sentenced to 11+ years for “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state” for her support of the Woman, Life, Freedom Uprising), called attention to the prison’s denial of treatment for wardmate Varisheh Moradi. Moradi suffers from intestinal bleeding after her 20-day hunger strike in October against the death sentences issued to other activists. On November 10, she herself was sentenced to death for “armed resistance” after a “trial” without evidence or legal representation. It was based only on alleged membership in a Kurdish opposition party. As she wrote, “I am accused of ‘rebellion’ simply for being a woman, a Kurd, and seeking a free life.”[^2]

This has been and is my life philosophy, that either life should be lived nobly and meaningfully or it should never be lived. And it is impossible to create such a life without resistance. So we must be able to live the resistance – whether behind the walls of Evin or in the world outside the prison.

(Chanting from inside Evin Women’s Ward: Audio captured on cellphone and posted on the Instagram and X feeds of Evin prisoner Golrokh Iraee.)

Free Mehran Raoof and Nahid Taghavi! “Getting to a better world that is fit for humanity”

Recently in England (UK) there have been renewed calls for negotiations to release British dual-national citizens imprisoned in other countries. In this context, there are some reports that UK officials have raised the case of British-Iranian activist Mehran Raoof with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Guardian reported:

In October 2020, Mehran Raoof was arrested in Tehran. The following year, the British-Iranian trade unionist and labour rights activist was sentenced to over 10 years’ imprisonment on national security-related charges. For years until his arrest, the former teacher from north London had divided his time between the UK and Iran, teaching English, meeting other labour and women’s rights activists and helping them translate materials from and into English.

He says he was not told of the reasons for his arrest or the charges against him at the time, and was denied legal access until the day of his trial. He was convicted of “forming a group of more than two people with the purpose of disrupting national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system”, and remains incarcerated in Iran’s notorious Evin prison….

Of multiple defendants “convicted” in this particular trial, only the two, dual nationals Mehran Raoof and Nahid Taghavi (currently on temporary furlough), are still subject to prison orders, although they have served more than one-third of their sentences, at which point it is common for prisoners to be conditionally released.

In April 2023, Mehran Raoof managed to smuggle out a letter of protest, only published in full in English by IEC. In it, he embodies the brave uncompromising position for which he is being isolated and punished:

[D]epriving prisoners with dual citizenship of their rights is a way the government sends a message to Iranian nationals with dual citizenship in the Diaspora: to expect severe consequences if they engage in political activities, so better not get involved in political activities—and if they do, they should not come back to Iran.

My name is Mehran Raoof, Iran’s national identification number 7789, born in [the Kurdish city of] Kermanshah, fluent in the Kurdish, English and Persian languages, with a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and a Master's degree from Polytechnic of Central London. I am charged with being a sympathizer of the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist), because of participating in promotional activities and for translation and publication of certain books and the works of Bob Avakian.

The Communist Party of Iran [MLM] and its website [cpimlm.org] offer a program to solve what ails society — discrimination, inequality, the oppression of women, exploitation, etc. They challenge society’s oppression of working people and its inequalities. They criticize and oppose the capitalist system in general. They critique other ills in society [that flow from capitalism] such as poverty, unemployment, the imperialist wars of aggression, the destruction of the environment, etc. They believe in scientific analysis and scientific methods in education and to solve the running sores of this society.

I'd like to add that my aspiration and goal in life has been to work to serve the people, and putting effort into reaching [them] and introducing [them to] a better world that is fit for humanity, free from oppression, exploitation and corruption, a society free from environmental pollution, free from disease and futile wars. In solidarity with the widespread uprising by the people, we demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners.
—Mehran Raouf, Evin Prison, early April 2023

Continued Importance of IEC – Donate and Join Us

As Iran continues to execute its prisoners at world record rates[^3], launch draconian attacks on hijab-free women, and terrorize its own people to regain legitimacy lost by the powerful Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022-2023, it is more important to stand with the resisters named above and so many thousands more who are unnamed.

The brave resistance by Iran’s political prisoners continues to be a beacon of hope in a world which, if looked at only on the surface, may appear minor in the midst of an unrelenting genocide and threat of wider war in the Middle East and in the wake of the U.S. election of a fascist in the world’s most powerful superpower.

Iran poses as the leader of an “axis of resistance” – but its (very limited) resistance to U.S. imperialism (and Israel) serves only to advance Iran’s own theocratic state interests and its regional power ambitions. It is right to rebel against Iran’s extreme theocratic patriarchy and dark ages capitalism – as its political prisoners are doing. Iran is not a liberating alternative to imperialism, Zionism and other historically obsolete socio-economic systems – just as it is right to rebel against imperialist (US/UK/Europe/NATO) and Zionist genocide. People are being played like unwitting ping pong balls bouncing between these outmoded, oppressive systems instead of taking the high, hard and ONLY road to bringing forward a liberatory way out of the madness. Supporters and participants in the IEC have diverse progressive left leaning views of what this other way is – but we unite on the need to discuss and debate and fight for a better future as we join together to support Iran’s righteous political dissidents, especially the indomitable women of Evin Prison.

We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW! We say to the U.S. government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!

^[1] In addition to the women prisoners’ hunger strike, a letter from 40 organizations called for Narges’ immediate medical furlough. “She suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, the letter says. In November of this year, her lawyer announced that doctors found a bone lesion that they feared could be cancerous, sparking the surgery she underwent on Thursday. ‘Years of imprisonment and months of solitary confinement have severely compromised Mohammadi’s health, leaving her with multiple serious conditions that cannot be addressed through a short, incomplete hospital visit.’” Concerns Grow for Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi’s Health in Iran, usnews.com, November 19, 2024

^[2] Death Sentence Against Woman Kurdish Activist Continues Iran’s Campaign of Terror to Silence Dissent, iranhumanrights.org, November 12, 2024

^[3] The Abdorrahman Bouromand Center reports 790 executions so far in 2024, with 134 of those in November alone, following 811 executions in 2023. Human rights organizations’ estimates differ slightly because they are based on research of press reports and individual contacts; most are not reported by official agencies.