Narges Mohammadi Goes on Hunger Strike for Contact with Her Children

Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist currently imprisoned in Evin prison, began a hunger strike on Monday, July 7. She stated that the reason for her action is the Iranian judicial authorities' prevention of her phone contact with her young children. In a letter published by the Human Rights Defenders Center, she wrote that "she has no request other than the ability to contact her children by phone." She explained that in the past year, she has only been able to hear her children's voices once, and throughout this time, Iranian judicial authorities have obstructed her communication with her two children. Kianna and Ali, Narges Mohammadi's young children, went to live with their father, Taghi Rahmani, a political activist, in France last year. Rahmani, who has been a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic for years, sought refuge in Europe following the events of 2009 and the heavy prison sentences issued for political activists critical of the Iranian government. In part of her letter, Mohammadi wrote: "I thought my loved ones would come three months later for the school reopening, but September came, and my children did not come. I requested permission for a phone call to at least hear their voices, but I was not allowed. December came. It was my children's birthday; I requested a phone call to congratulate them, but I was not allowed. In the women's ward of Evin, unlike all prisons in the country, there is no phone available for contacting families, and it is prohibited... For a year, my communication with my two young children has been limited to asking about their well-being from my sister and brother... I have forgotten their voices." She added that although her experience in prison and even her 16-year sentence has strengthened her will and belief in defending human rights, the "suffering and pain from the distance from her loved ones and children" remains. Narges Mohammadi, who is serving a six-year sentence, was recently sentenced to several more years in a closed court for charges of "gathering and colluding to commit a crime against national security" and "propaganda against the regime," bringing her total sentences to 16 years. Another part of her letter states: "I said the small hearts of my children are heavy for me in my exile. Alas, no one heard and paid attention. I have been patient for a year, hoping that a conscience in this land of cold-hearted people would awaken, but it yielded no results, and my maternal affection was denied again. Despite my physical will and ability, I had no choice but to announce my 'motherhood' and longing through a hunger strike. Perhaps a heart will feel compassion, perhaps there is shame and conscience, perhaps this hatred and oppression will come to an end." She concluded her letter by stating: "I have no request other than the ability to contact my children by phone. If this great request is unreasonable, immoral, illegal, and against national security, please tell me and convince me? If a mother, deemed a criminal by the government, must be deprived of hearing her children's voices, announce it; if not, allow me, as a mother, to hear my children's voices. The punishment for us women and mothers is imprisonment, not deprivation of hearing the voices of our loved ones. Believe in our humanity."