Nobel Peace Prize goes to Narges Mohammadi, but she isn’t there

Lwith an empty chair where she should have sat Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, is not just an empty seat, but the symbol of the ferocity of the Iranian regime, which punishes its citizens and especially women and all those who fight for freedom. Exactly like Mohammadi who, in fact, is in prison in Tehran serving a 31-year prison sentence.

Nobel Peace Prize goes to Narges Mohammadi, but she isn’t there

Mohammadi’s twin sons were there to receive the awardKiana and Ali, 17 years old, for whom that absence is a deep wound that they have to deal with every day: «I no longer know what the tone of his voice is, or what he looks like, now. And I don’t know if I’ll see her again, even though I fear not. Our father or mother has been in and out of prison since we were 4 years old. It’s a terrible pain, but we have accepted this life,” Kiana confided to France 24.

For the rights of women, but of everyone

Narges Mohammadi fights against «tyrannical and misogynistic religious regime» of Iran which targets women and strongly opposes the obligation to wear the hijab. But he also strongly opposes the death penalty in the country and for this reason she has been detained in Evin prison since 2021 and was unable to receive the prestigious award in person.

An empty chair symbol of all the injustices against women

To the brutality of the Tehran regime, Mohammadi and the other activists oppose courage, fortitude, idealism and resistance and in some ways, that empty chair also represents those injustices against women in the world that are much less known: Yemeni women victims of a practically ignored warRussian and Belarusian dissidents are locked up behind bars because they oppose Putin’s absolute power, girls raped by the thousands in the Tigray war in Ethiopia.

Sakharov Prize, Mahsa Amini’s parents also blocked

The prize awarded by the Oslo Committee is to her and to those who, together with her, carry forward the nonviolent movement “Women, Life, Freedom”, which blossomed right after the death of Mahsa Amini. Is exactly the parents of the Kurdish-Iranian girl who died last year while he was in the custody of the morality police for having worn the veil incorrectly, they will not be able to leave to collect the Sakharov Prize in Paris awarded posthumously to the young victim. The family’s lawyer in France told AFP. «The family members were banned from boarding the flight that would have taken them to France even though they had visas – said Chirinne Ardakani – Their passports were confiscated».

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