Expression
On 28th November 2023, as part of its campaign to free women human rights defenders, the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition launched a campaign to free Golrokh Iraee. Iraee is an anti-death penalty activist working on documentation of human rights violations, predominantly inside Iranian prisons. She was violently arrested on 26th September 2022 during a raid at her house.
In October 2023, Iranian woman human rights defender Narges Mohammadi received the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. She remains in prison in Iran along with other women human rights defenders. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it gave the Peace Prize to Mohammadi, 51 years old, “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all. Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes.”
In 2015, Mohammadi was imprisoned for her protests against the death penalty but released for health reasons in October 2020 before being arrested again on 16th November 2021, with a brief medical furlough from February to April 2022. The Nobel Committee said, “Upon her return to prison, she began opposing the regime’s systematic use of torture and sexualised violence against political prisoners, especially women, that is practised in Iranian prisons.”
She has not been silenced even in prison, and is one of the courageous women prisoners of conscience who staged a sit-in inside Evin Prison on 15th September, a day ahead of the anniversary of the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini (also known as Jina Amini). Among other protesters in Evin Prison were Sepideh Qolian, Golrokh Iraee, Azadeh Abedini, Shakila Monfared, Mahboubeh Rezaee and Vida Rabani. On 16th September 2022, Amini died after being detained in Tehran by the Iranian morality police for allegedly wearing an “improper” hijab. Her death sparked widespread protests across Iran under the banner of #WomanLifeFreedom (ZanZendegiAzadi), which have been met with a severe crackdown from the authorities.
In October 2023, journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi were sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison in Iran respectively on several charges. Hamedi is sentenced to seven years in prison and Mohammadi to six years in prison for “collaborating with the hostile US government”. They also received an additional five years in prison for “acting against the national security” and a year for “propaganda”. They were arrested in September 2022 after reporting on Amini’s death in custody.
On 1st October 2023, 16-year-old Armita Geravand was pulled unconscious out of a Tehran metro car by four people. The authorities claimed she had low blood pressure and fell and hit her head, but witnesses say she was violently beaten by a state security unit for not wearing hijab. According to news reports, on 3rd October 2023, Shargh newspaper reporter Maryam Lotfi was briefly detained after trying to interview Geravand’s mother, who was then also reportedly arrested on 4th October and taken to an unknown location.
On 22nd October 2023, Geravand was reported to be brain-dead after her beating, and subsequently died on 28th October 2023.
On 29th October 2023, prominent woman human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, winner of the Right Livelihood Prize, was among those arrested at Geravand’s funeral. Following her arrest, she was beaten and transferred to Qarchak Prison. On 15th November 2023, Sotoudeh was released from prison