Fariba Adelkhah: Anti-Mandatory Hijab Protests Changed Iran and Its Prisons

Fariba Adelkhah, an Iranian-French researcher, stated in an interview with AFP published on Saturday, November 4, that last year's nationwide protests transformed Iran and its prisons. Adelkhah, who was allowed to leave Iran after four and a half years of imprisonment and travel ban, noted the 'courage' of Iranian women, including Narges Mohammadi, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, whom she witnessed in prison. According to Adelkhah, the 'resistance movement' emerging from the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini united various groups in Evin Prison, including human rights activists, environmentalists, political dissidents, and representatives of religious minorities. Regarding her arrest and imprisonment, Adelkhah recounted that she was detained on June 5, 2019, while waiting at the airport for Roland Marshall, a French citizen. She mentioned that government agents 'very politely' asked her to follow them. A few hours later, while standing 'facing the wall,' she was interrogated for the first time. Adelkhah added that she was interrogated multiple times afterward but was never physically harmed. She stated that physical abuse of prisoners mostly happens to men, but she had never heard of such incidents occurring to female prisoners. However, she emphasized that the absence of physical violence does not prevent ongoing psychological humiliation. Some political prisoners, including Narges Mohammadi, have previously spoken about mistreatment and sexual harassment of female prisoners. Adelkhah was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison, five years for 'collaboration with foreigners' and one year for 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic.' Roland Marshall, a sociologist who was detained alongside Adelkhah, was released on the first day of 2020 as part of a prisoner exchange between Tehran and Paris. In her interview with AFP, Adelkhah stated, 'I still do not understand what I was accused of.' In prison, she and Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian citizen who was imprisoned at the time, went on a hunger strike for 50 days. Adelkhah and Moore-Gilbert were among dozens of foreign and dual citizens who, according to human rights activists and Western governments, fell victim to the Islamic Republic's 'hostage-taking' policy. While some of these individuals have been released from Iranian prisons and returned to their countries, several foreign and dual citizens, including four French citizens, remain imprisoned in Iran. Adelkhah noted that as a result of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement, female prisoners were defying prison authorities, including refusing to wear headscarves in the presence of male prison officials. Last Wednesday, Narges Mohammadi was prevented from being transferred to the healthcare section due to her refusal to wear the mandatory hijab. Adelkhah praised Mohammadi, calling her one of the leaders of the anti-mandatory hijab movement who turned prison into 'the best place for struggle [and] protest.' Adelkhah believes that despite government repression, the slogan 'Women, Life, Freedom' has become part of Iranian culture and that the 'Islamic Republic has been forced to retreat in many areas.'