Narges Mohammadi: Executioners Have Raised Gallows in Iran's Prisons

Narges Mohammadi, a political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, stated during a virtual meeting with the Women's Rights Committee in the French Senate and French parliament representatives on Thursday, February 4, that "gallows have been raised by executioners in prisons across my homeland, and every day in this land, the heads of young people hang from the nooses." According to Narges Mohammadi's Instagram page, which is managed by her close associates, she emphasized the "alarming increase in executions (government killings) and the dire situation of political women prisoners" and stated that the Islamic Republic is trying to "take revenge on women for the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement." She added, "The nooses of the dear Pakhshan and the root of Moradi, who are imprisoned in the women's section of Evin Prison, are being dangled over women to force the brave and aware women of Iran to retreat." This political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize winner also called on France to make "human rights a prerequisite and the main focus of any negotiations with the Islamic Republic regime." Currently, at least 54 "political and security" prisoners are facing execution sentences in the Islamic Republic's prisons under charges such as "rebellion, waging war against God, and corruption on earth." The increase in the issuance and implementation of death sentences by the Iranian judiciary has faced widespread global protests. Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed serious concern on January 7 about the significant rise in executions in Iran over the past year. Alongside international human rights organizations, the U.S. State Department condemned the "increasing use of executions by the Iranian regime to suppress the people." Mohammadi, who is on medical leave after "tumor surgery and bone marrow transplant," also urged the French government and parliament to "pressure the Islamic Republic regime to stop the increasing executions and to realize human rights and women's rights." This Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times over the past two decades, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "propaganda against the regime" in her latest legal case and is currently held in Evin Prison in Tehran. During her imprisonment, this human rights activist has faced numerous fabricated cases by the Iranian judiciary authorities.