Narges Mohammadi: I am being tried for protesting against the sexual assault of women by government men

On the eve of a new court session, Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, called for her trial to be public and announced that she is being tried again for protesting against sexual assaults on women. Ms. Mohammadi, who is set to be tried again on Sunday, May 19, stated that she demands a public trial "with the presence of independent journalists, women's rights activists, human rights activists, and my lawyers," adding that "I want to be tried in court alongside witnesses and narrators of the sexual assaults by the authoritarian religious government against women." She also called for guarantees of "personal, psychological, and judicial security" for the witnesses accompanying her in the public session on Sunday to recount their experiences of assault openly. Mustafa Nili, Ms. Mohammadi's lawyer, wrote on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, May 18, that the hearing for Ms. Mohammadi's new case would be held on Sunday, May 19, in Branch 29 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. He stated that the charge against Mohammadi in this new case is "propaganda against the regime." However, Narges Mohammadi wrote on her official Instagram page that on Sunday, "for the fourth time in the past four years, I am being dragged to the table of unjust and nominal trials due to my protests and disclosures about the sexual assaults by government men against women." According to this report, this time she is to be tried for protesting "against the bruises on the body and the account of the assault on Dina Ghalibaf." Her reference is to a voice message sent outside the prison in which she stated: "Dina Ghalibaf, a journalist, entered the women's ward of Evin prison a few hours ago with bruises on her body and an account of sexual assault." Ms. Ghalibaf was arrested on Tuesday, April 17, one day after she published her personal account of being detained by government agents for not adhering to mandatory hijab and "sexual assault" by one of them. Narges Mohammadi wrote that this case was formed one day after the aforementioned voice message was sent, in Branch 7 of the Holy Prosecutor's Office and was quickly brought to trial. The Nobel laureate added that her previous three protests against sexual assaults on women were related to "the shameless assault by government men on myself on December 24, 2010, in the Evin courtyard," "holding a room [discussion] on sexual harassment in Clubhouse and narrating the assault," and "writing a statement and testifying in the Women, Life, Freedom movement regarding the assaults against my fellow inmates." Despite protesting these assaults, Mohammadi has been tried as a defendant in all these cases and even sentenced to prison and lashes. During the widespread arrests of protesters following the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police, numerous reports of rape and assault against protesting women by government agents inside and outside prisons were published. In the streets, multiple images and videos emerged showing that agents not only used vulgar sexual language against protesting women but also molested them during arrests. In December 2022, CNN reported that the Islamic Republic's forces were accused of violence and sexual assault against Iranian protesters in detention centers. After Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian rejected this report, Narges Mohammadi, a civil rights activist imprisoned, announced in a letter that she is willing to testify about such incidents. In a letter published from prison and obtained by Radio Farda, Ms. Mohammadi called Amir-Abdollahian's human rights claims "lies," stating: "In recent months, detainees have been brought to the women's ward of Evin prison who have been subjected to physical sexual assault and physical torture, and we have witnessed the physical evidence left on their bodies."