By René Wadlow

On the traditional date of December 10, the Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to the Iranian woman human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. She is in Evin Prison in Iran, called by some “The University of Evin” for the large number of intellectuals held there. Thus, the award was received by her twin children Ali and Kiana who live in exile in Paris with their father Taghi Rahmani, also a human rights activist.

Narges Mohammadi was put in prison for her human rights writings in 2016 and liberated in 2020, only to be put back in prison in November 2021 where living conditions are very difficult and her health has weakened.

In honoring Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Committee was honoring the many women (and some men) who have taken to the streets and the school yards to protest the death at the hands of the “morality police” of Mahsa Amini with the battle cry of “Woman, Life, Liberty.”

The protests began on September 3, 2022 at the announcement of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, having been arrested by the “morality police” for having some of her hair beyond the hijab (veil). She was an ethnic Kurd. The protests began in the Kurdish areas but soon spread to all ethnic groups and to many parts of the country.

Women have been a central focus of the social policy of the Iranian Islamic government. Even before coming to power in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini from his exile in France had said that the overly great liberty of women was a chief obstacle to his policies. Repressive policies against women with compulsory veiling laws were quickly put into place once in power.

Unlike what happened in Afghanistan because of the Taliban, women have not been barred from higher education. It is estimated that some 65 per cent of university students are women. Many women play important roles within society but must keep a low profile, dress according to the dress code, and be under the control of a man at least when visible in public.

However, things are changing. Increasingly, the symbolic themes of the protests are shifting from a focus on the restrictions on women to the nature of the clerical regime itself. The conservative president Ebrahim Raissi is called into question. As Narges Mohammadi has said, “Can you hear the first sounds of the walls which are cracking? Soon you will hear the walls falling into dust by the strength and determination of the Iranians.”

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.