Narges Mohammadi on the Day of Her Father's Burial: Forgive Me, I Bid Farewell to You from Behind Prison Bars

Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently imprisoned in Evin Prison, expressed her farewell to her father, who passed away this week, saying she bids him goodbye 'from behind prison bars.' The burial ceremony for Karim Mohammadi, Narges Mohammadi's imprisoned human rights activist father, took place on Thursday, March 1, in Zanjan, while the judiciary officials of the Islamic Republic did not grant her leave to attend the ceremony. In a brief message from prison, Narges stated: 'My patient father, forgive me! I bid farewell to you, dear traveler, from behind prison bars.' Karim Mohammadi passed away on March 1 while being deprived of visits and phone calls with his daughter, having been unable to see her for 22 months and not hearing her voice for three months. He was over 90 years old and had written in his 'final days' that he was enduring these days with the regret of not seeing his daughter and grandchildren. He expressed that he could not bear the regret of hearing his daughter's voice from the 'oppressive prison.' Following this event, political and ideological prisoners in the women's ward of Evin Prison staged a sit-in protest on the evening of March 1, objecting to the prison authorities and the judiciary's refusal to grant Narges Mohammadi leave to attend her father's funeral. Golrokh Iraee's account on X shared a message from 60 political prisoners and Narges Mohammadi's fellow inmates, expressing condolences and hoping she could be with her family and friends for her final farewell. Over the past four decades, the Islamic Republic has not only imprisoned human rights defenders and political activists but has also tortured their families by depriving them of visitation and phone call rights. Last month, VOA obtained a letter from Reza Mohammadi, a political prisoner in Qezel Hessar, in which he emphasized that his father's death was a 'government murder' and a 'heart attack' resulting from witnessing his 'brutal' arrest, followed by judicial authorities attempting to execute a 'madness project' for this political prisoner. Reza recalled the 'last image' of his father during the 'farewell of life,' describing how on May 1, 2023, one day before his 30th birthday, while preparing for a small family celebration, the IRGC agents suddenly raided their home. Shortly after, his father, approximately 60 years old, died of a heart attack. Narges Mohammadi joined the election boycott campaign, stating that the Islamic Republic deserves national sanctions and global humiliation. Narges Mohammadi's initiative led a group of UN experts to call for criminalizing 'gender apartheid.' Narges Mohammadi stated that they will continue the struggle for the transition from the religious, authoritarian, and misogynistic regime of the Islamic Republic.