Children of jailed Iranian activist accept her Nobel Prize

From prison cell, she calls for peace, end of oppression

Iran’s most prominent human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, was supposed to be handed the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Sunday.

But, locked inside Evin Prison in Iran, Mohammadi, 51, was unable to travel to Norway, and her 17-year-old twin children, Kiana Rahmani and Ali Rahmani, instead accepted the medal and diploma on her behalf and read a speech she prepared.

“I write this message from behind the tall and cold walls of a prison,” she said in her speech, making a plea for a “globalization of peace and human rights” in a world where authoritarian governments continue to commit abuses against their people.

Mohammadi’s children have not seen their mother since 2015, when they fled Iran for France, and they have been unable to speak with her for two years, after Iranian authorities banned her from phone contact with them, according to PEN America, a free-speech group.

In the speech, which was greeted with a standing ovation,

Mohammadi described the undemocratic ways of the Islamic republic, its oppressive rules mandating the hijab for women, and the women-led uprisings that shook the country last year.

She warned that humanrights violations perpetrated by authoritarian governments had broader consequences, including migration, unrest, and growing terrorist threats.

“In the globalized world, either human rights will become respected internationally, or human rights violations will continue to spread across state borders,” she said.

A portrait of Mohammadi hung on the wall of Oslo’s city hall during the ceremony, which included performances by Iranian musicians.

In her speech, the Iranian human rights activist also talked of the “soul-crushing suffering resulting from the lack of freedom, equality, and democracy” in her country, perpetrated by a “despotic religious government.”

“Tyranny turns life into death, blessing into lament, and comfort into torment,” she said.

Iran’s authoritarian government has long tried to silence Mohammadi for her activism and she is serving a long prison sentence for “spreading antistate propaganda.”

On Saturday, Mohammadi’s family announced that she had begun a hunger strike to protest the violation of human rights in Iran and the treatment of the Baha’i religious minority there. She has previously suffered severe health problems in prison, including a heart attack.

Despite her detention, she has remained a powerful voice promoting human rights in Iran and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and promoting freedom and human rights.

As major protests rocked Iran last year after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the country’s morality police after being accused of failing to wear a hijab properly, Mohammadi organized demonstrations inside the prison.

Amini was posthumously awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Union’s top human rights honor. Iranian authorities have banned members of her family from traveling to accept it, a civil rights monitor reported.

The US-based HRANA said Saturday that authorities have refused to allow Amini’s father, Amjad, and two of her brothers to fly out to Strasbourg, France, to receive the Sakharov Prize.