OSLO
\n\u201cVictory is not easy, but it is certain,\u201d imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and women\u2019s rights activist Narges Mohammadi, said in a message smuggled out of her Tehran cell and published late on Tuesday.
\nIn the message, read out in French by her daughter, Kiana Rahmani, and posted on the official Nobel website, the 51-year-old activist and journalist expr\u00adessed \u201csincere gratitude\u201d to the Norwegian Nobel committee.
\nMohammadi \u2014 who was awarded the prize in early October \u201cfor her fight against the oppression of women in Iran\u201d \u2014 once again criticised the requirement for women in Iran to wear a headscarf, and denounced Iranian authorities.
\n\u201cThe compulsory hijab is a means of control and repression imposed on society and on which the continuation and survival of this authoritarian religious regime depends,\u201d she declared through her 17-year-old daughter, who has taken refuge in France along with her family. She condemned \u201ca regime that has institutionalised deprivation and poverty in society for 45 years\u201d, adding that it was \u201cbuilt on lies, deception, cunning, and intimidation\u201d.
\nArrested 13 times, sentenced five times to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes, and imprisoned again since 2021, Narges Mohammadi is one of the women spearheading the \u201cWoman, Life, Freedom\u201d uprising in Iran.<\/p>\n
The movement, which has seen women take off their headdresses, cut their hair and demonstrate in the streets, was sparked by the death of a young 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, last year after she was arrested in Teh\u00adran for failing to comply with the strict Islamic dress code.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Armita Gara\u00adwand, a 17-year-old ethnic Kurd, died a week after she was declared \u201cbrain dead\u201d. She had been hospitalised since Oct 1 after falling unconscious on the metro.<\/p>\n
Rights groups have said the teen was critically wounded during an alleged assault by female members of Iran\u2019s morality police. The authorities dispute this account, saying she suddenly fell ill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, the people of Iran, demand democracy, freedom, human rights, and equality, and the Islamic Republic is the main obstacle in the way of realising these national demands,\u201d Moha\u00admmadi said in her message.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2026 are struggling to transition away from this religious authoritarian regime through solidarity and drawing on the power of a non-violent and unstoppable process in order to revive the honour and pride of Iran and human dignity and prestige for its people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OSLO \u201cVictory is not easy, but it is certain,\u201d imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner and women\u2019s rights activist Narges Mohammadi, said in a message smuggled out of her Tehran cell and published late on Tuesday. In the message, read out in French by her daughter, Kiana Rahmani, and posted on the official Nobel website, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-365657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n