Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Prison: I Will Not Participate in the Illegitimate Government Elections

Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and political prisoner, stated in a message shared on her Instagram page that "I will not participate in the illegal elections of the repressive and illegitimate government." The message questioned how one can hold a ballot box in front of the same people while simultaneously wielding a sword, gallows, weapons, and prisons against them. Mohammadi emphasized that "the sole aim of holding elections for a regime that believes in repression, terror, and violence as the only means to maintain power is not to uphold democracy and people's rights, but to consolidate power and tyranny. Such elections will not bring legitimacy to the Islamic Republic." Concurrently, the Freedom Movement, one of the oldest and critical parties of the Islamic Republic in Iran, announced in a statement that there is no less costly and more reliable way to "reform the current conditions than through free and fair elections." Accordingly, the Freedom Movement has concluded to have a "protest participation" in this election. The government's elections to determine the successor of Ebrahim Raisi have been boycotted by a significant portion of the people and opponents of the Islamic Republic. Previously, many political activists and imprisoned individuals, including Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, have expressed their positions regarding the upcoming elections, which some have described as a "show election" and a "circus election." This political prisoner, on the verge of the early presidential elections for the Islamic Republic to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, stated in a message from the women's ward of Evin Prison that the people of Iran "remember the betrayal of the reformists" from the very first day. Iraee's message comes as some government reformists have announced their support for Masoud Pezeshkian among the six candidates approved by the Islamic Republic who passed the Guardian Council filter under Ali Khamenei's supervision. This political prisoner emphasized in her message published on Sunday, June 17, on the Instagram page attributed to Golrokh Iraee, that "the reformists should know that we, the people of Iran, remember their betrayal from the very first day. We do not forget the consolidation of the Islamic Republic's power and the catastrophic massacre of youth in the 1980s; during the days when you Hezbollahis and Imam Line supporters were at the helm of affairs." Jamshid Barzegar: The Islamic Republic has drained elections of meaning and rendered the ballot box invalid. Protest graffiti in support of the election boycott; "Our vote is for overthrow." The International PEN condemned the issuance of another one-year prison sentence for Narges Mohammadi. The International Coalition for "Freedom for Narges" condemned the new ruling of the judiciary against Narges Mohammadi. The Nobel Committee condemned the issuance of another one-year prison sentence for Narges Mohammadi. Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was sentenced to another year in prison on charges of "propaganda against the regime." The publication of the results of a survey by the Goman Institute showed that 65% of respondents said they would not participate in the "July 8 elections." Haadi Kasai Zadeh, a journalist, was re-arrested after filing a complaint against two government entities.