Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, warned that the Islamic regime in Iran was waging an "all-out war" against Iranian women in a voice recording that she managed to send from within Tehran's Evin Prison on Sunday.
"For years, we have witnessed many women who have endured assault, abuse, and beatings by government agents," Mohammadi said in a message published on her Instagram page to mark her birthday. "However, today, the Islamic Republic, not from a position of strength but out of desperation, has dragged a full-scale war against all women to every street in Iran."
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"We women in this relentless war will either stop this war by losing our lives, or the people of Iran and the world will come to our aid so that we can stop this war through living and peace and force the misogynistic regime to retreat," she said.
Mohammadi called on Iranians from all classes and all walks of life, both inside and outside Iran, to protest the "war, aggression, rape, and beating of women."
"I ask the world and the worlds to stop this relentless barbaric war, which is a terrible and disgusting manifestation of gender apartheid," added the activist.
"O proud women of Iran, the cruel despotic government thought that it would scare us and force us to retreat by assaulting, violating, and insulting the dignity of women, but you, you nameless and anonymous women from Sistan and Baluchistan to Kurdistan and from Khuzestan to Azerbaijan and Tehran and everywhere in Iran did not sit back, but you pushed the government back," stressed Mohammadi.
"We women of resistance live in every moment of our lives in every place under the boots of tyranny in prison and on the street," said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, urging Iranian women not to "underestimate your stories.
"These narratives will disgrace the misogynist government and knock it down," said Mohammadi, calling on women to send their stories of "arrest, assault, harassment, humiliation, beating and rape" to her Instagram page.
"Long live the resistance. Long live freedom. Long live the indomitable brave women of Iran," she concluded.
Mohammadi, who has worked as a journalist and a human rights activist, has been arrested several times and has been in prison since 2021. From prison, she has published several statements and reports about human rights violations committed by the Khamenei regime.
Mohammadi said that she had lost phone access for the past five months and was sending out the new message through Sepideh Gholian, another Iranian activist and journalist.
Iranian journalist transferred to Evin Prison
In her recorded message, Mohammadi noted that Dina Ghalibaf, a journalist and student at Tehran's Beheshti University, had been jailed at Evin Prison on Sunday and had bruises on her.
Ghalibaf was arrested from her home on Tuesday after posting on X that she had been detained and sexually assaulted by "Morality Police" at the Sadeghiyeh metro station in Tehran earlier in the week.
Ghalibaf said the Morality Police officers violently detained her and tased her while she was trying to access the metro in a post on Monday. She added that one of the officers made insulting comments about Mahsa Amini and women in general. On Tuesday, she was taken from her home to an unknown location. Ghalibaf's X account has since been suspended. The Iranian Teachers Union reported on her arrest as well.
The Evin Prison was placed under US sanctions in 2018 for "ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, the commission of serious human rights abuses against persons in Iran or Iranian citizens or residents, or the family members of the foregoing."
According to the statement by the US Treasury at the time, prisoners at Evin Prison are subject to brutal tactics such as sexual assault, physical assaults, and electric shock.
Kurdish rapper arrested during Mahsa Amini protests sentenced to 'exile'
Additionally, on Sunday, Saman Yasin, a Kurdish rapper who was arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022, was sentenced to five years of "exile" in the city of Kerman. Yasin had originally been sentenced to death, but Iran's Supreme Court overturned the ruling, according to Yasin's lawyer.
The punishment of exile involves sending a person to an isolated location where they must remain and periodically report to local authorities. The locations are usually impoverished and subject to an intensive presence of security forces.
Khamenei regime intensifies crackdown on hijab restrictions
The Islamic regime in Iran has begun intensifying its crackdown on hijab restrictions in several cities in the past few weeks, with violent arrests reported across the country by opposition groups and human rights agencies.
The intensified assault on women across Iran comes after the regime announced the "Nour Project." The project, aimed at "dealing with anomalies," has involved a heavy presence of the "Morality Police" in several cities since this past weekend.
The Islamic regime in Iran has been gradually intensifying enforcement of hijab laws since they were somewhat relaxed in light of nationwide protests that swept Iran after Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, was killed by "Morality Police" in Tehran.
Amini’s death sparked intense nationwide demonstrations last September, commonly referred to as the “Woman, Life, Liberty” (“Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” in Kurdish) protests, which continued in full strength for months on end.