Narges Mohammadi, Cécile Kohler, Zeynab Jalalian and then Nasim, Rezvaneh, Zeynab Jalalian and many others. Many writers, many journalists, many other activists (it is no coincidence that this prison is also known as “the University“precisely because of the high number of intellectuals who are detained there) and many were among the tens of thousands of people arrested during the protests”Woman, life, freedom” which followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
Then, Mahsa was arrested on charges of breaking Iranian laws requiring women to wear the hijab and died in police custody. The others are there, detained in Tehran prison which is an authentic symbol ofoppression of the Islamic Republicjust like what happened to our Cecilia Sala (but also to Alessia Piperno).
Built in 1972 under the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza PahlaviEvin Prison was initially designed as a facility for the detention of political prisoners. Then, with the Islamic Revolution of 1979, it became the main center of incarceration for dissidents, journalists, activists and members of ethnic and religious minorities.To date, there are around 15 thousand prisoners in overcrowded conditions there and hygiene deficiencies.
Most of the women were convicted for “crimes” including “propaganda” against the State and the “endangering of national security”. They live in crowded cells with up to 20 people in each and bunk beds stacked three high, and every Tuesday they gather to protest executions, singing in the prison courtyard, refusing to move all night and staging hunger strikes against a regime which oppresses them in one of the countries most hostile to women’s rights (Iran is in 143rd place out of 146 in the Global Gender Gap Report 2024).
According to Amnesty International, more than 800 people were executed in Iran last year, the highest number in eight years. Most of them were executed for violence- and drug-related crimes. A handful of them were women. And Evin and in general in Iranian detention centers, torture is practiced systematically.
The methods documented by Amnesty International include whippings, mock executions, waterboarding (semi-drowning), sexual violence, suspension by limbs, forced ingestion of chemicals and denial of medical care.
The release of Cecilia Sala is certainly a positive sign, but it must not divert attention from the plight of those still behind bars. Human rights organizations and the international community must continue to pressure Iran to release all political prisoners, including Narges Mohammadi.
The fight for women’s rights in Iran is still far from won. It is essential not to lower the bar of attention and to continue to support those who, like Narges, continue to resist even behind bars.
