I'm hot, it's so stuffy. I find it difficult to breathe. I'm not healthy. Is it day? Night? Time stands still. You have done everything to break me, to suppress my will, my fight. To silence me. You won't succeed. * calm music * My name is Narges Mohammadi. I am writing from Evin Prison in Tehran. The authoritarian religious government brutally suppressed the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement . But even if the protest is no longer on the streets, its spirit is still there. These are the last recor
dings of her in freedom so far: After many years in prison, the Iranian human rights activist was released on bail in October 2020. Narges Mohammadi immediately risks being imprisoned again and arranges to meet with former prisoners in order to make a film himself that will document the regime's crimes. * speaks Farsi * We are 23 activists who have been in solitary confinement. And together we file a lawsuit with the judicial authority. It is stated that solitary confinement violates the law. Th
is is a historic moment. Because through this lawsuit, both those tortured and the torturers are registered with the authorities. This is an important step in our fight for justice. You better put the camera down. We're almost there. Otherwise they will take them away from you. No matter what you film in Iran, you need permission from the regime forces everywhere. * suspenseful music * Even if you have permission, you will be closely monitored. You are not allowed to film anywhere near courthous
es. That's why we had to film hidden. Together with filmmakers Vahid Zarezadeh and Gelareh Kakavand, Narges Mohammadi interviewed opponents of the regime for their documentary "White Torture." Like you, they experienced a particularly perfidious form of torture: the so-called “white torture”. A dangerous action. The entire team's apartments in Tehran are searched almost at the same time. They broke down my apartment door. After each shoot, we copied the material onto different hard drives and se
nt it to different locations. Otherwise they would have confiscated the filming material during house searches. They didn't find anything because we hid all the films the day they arrested Narges. I was with Narges when the regime forces broke into her house. And because I experienced their courage that day, I followed their example when they stood in my apartment a few days later. When they asked me to put on a headscarf, I said, "You came to my house." "I don't have to wear a headscarf here. M
y rules apply here." The two filmmakers managed to get the explosive material out of the country. Today they live in exile in Germany. Narges Mohammadi, however, had to be imprisoned again a few months after the film was shot and is still in prison today. I gave up everything as a woman, mother and human being for my commitment to freedom, equality and democracy and I don't regret that. But that doesn't apply to my children Ali and Kiana. I regret that I cannot be with them. * Piano music * Eigh
t years ago, Narges Mohammadi's children went into exile with their father in Paris. Twins Ali and Kiana have not seen their mother since then. The Iranian regime prohibits any contact. The last phone call was a year ago. (speaks French) I don't really have any hope of seeing her again. But even if not, I will always be proud of her. (speaks French) We grew up like this, fighting against this government. No matter where we are, on Mars or elsewhere, we will always be concerned with what is happe
ning in Iran, in our country. Childhood in Iran. Narges Mohammadi was already committed to women and their rights back then. Her father, Taghi Rahmani, also fights for human rights. The children have many good memories of the extended family, but also of the fact that usually one parent is in prison. Regime forces storming the apartment are a part of their lives. (speaks French) I remember men breaking down the door. My father was hiding when they came in. Even though I was so small, I still shu
dder at the thought of it, remembering the terrible feeling. I saw my father being taken away and I thought: "No! Let dad go, he doesn't want to go!" Taghi Rahmani was imprisoned in Iran for 14 years. He survived when Ayatollah Khomeini executed thousands of political prisoners in 1988. When he is about to be imprisoned again, he flees to Paris. He hasn't seen his wife for eleven years and hasn't been able to visit his homeland. My body is in Paris, but my soul is in Tehran. When I am in the str
eets of Paris, I sometimes imagine that they are here, the great Tehran boulevards: the Street of the Revolution and the Street of the Republic. Narges Mohammadi did not follow him into exile. The Iranian authorities would have been more than happy with that. Because their voice would have less power from abroad. I wanted us to go together. But when I went abroad, I realized that I also wanted to go back. Living abroad is like living in an aquarium. You are not where you are needed. Everything t
akes place in Iran. For the fight it is important to have principles. As far as I know Narges, she will not leave Iran. And because it doesn't work, we have to arrange our lives accordingly. The regime wants me to disappear. But I will not be defeated by this long separation. Even though sometimes I feel a crushing sadness that makes me think I won't survive this. Their public accusations against the regime, interviews that highlight crimes: ever new prison sentences for Narges Mohammadi. But sh
e carries on. Among other things, with the recordings of her documentary about white torture. In it she also describes her own experiences in solitary confinement. Alone. In a cell, for weeks, months. It's a moment when your heart stops beating. And yes, you are afraid when the door is slammed loudly. Four times in solitary confinement. My cell: only three steps long. Artificial light, 24 hours. No book, nothing. The spreading silence is like a constant scream that paralyzes my brain cells. * op
pressive silence * You are deprived of all your senses. You have no sense of smell and the only sense you might use a bit is hearing. * loud footsteps * They take away your senses. You lose the ability to perceive anything. You find yourself in nothingness. Your organs are working, you are alive in an endless grave. But you don't die in it, you're still there. This nothingness is truly a death experience. The journalist Sasan Aghaei has served numerous prison sentences in Iran, a total of 288 da
ys in solitary confinement. 2009, when the population opposed the official election results during the presidential election, he was one of the journalists who made sure the world knew about it. It's kind of crazy when I say that their crime was journalism. But journalism is actually very important. Many Iranian journalists have been in prison. It depends on the length of imprisonment. After a few days it's pure torture. Political prisoners in particular are treated this way. They put pressure o
n the prisoners with a few months of solitary confinement. The government of the Islamic Republic and similar authoritarian regimes usually claim that political prisoners are foreign spies or the like. The regime forces create a story around it and select the people who play along with it. Arrests, often without stating the reasons for the charges, without specifying the length of detention. The term “white torture” also describes humiliating interrogations . I myself went through 1.5 years of s
olitary confinement. Once six months, then four months, three months, 1.5 months. It's hard to imagine how hard that is. When you get into the cell, you feel like the walls are closing in on you and your heart is tightening. It's like your heart is being ripped out. This is what White Torture feels like. We use the term "White Torture" because it does not leave obvious wounds on the body, but psychological ones. British-Iranian student Ghoncheh Ghavami is imprisoned in 2014. Her crime: She tried
to watch a men's volleyball tournament in Tehran. Banned for women in Iran. One of their strategies is to humiliate you. You're not even allowed to go to the toilet whenever you want. An important part of this humiliation is that they open and close the door whenever they want. You have no privacy at all. And then the humiliations that exist in patriarchal society: "Who are you anyway, you are a woman, you are not human." To increase the pressure, they tell women that they are inferior. Another
tool of white torture in prison is to force sexual confessions from women. Many women have reported this to Narges. This is systematic; the interrogator is not doing this for his own sexual satisfaction. He does this as part of the process. As a male interrogator, he says to a female prisoner: "Describe to me your sexual relationship with that man!" Narges Mohammadi uses the time between prison sentences to document this. And she takes the risk of continuing this later in prison. During the “Wo
man, Life, Freedom” protests she managed to make sexual violence against prisoners public. Permanent separation from the family is also used as a torture method. Narges Mohammadi reports how she dreamed of her little daughter in the cell. I really felt Kiana's lips on my cheek. Kiana's small, warm lips. Kiana kissed me and I wanted to hug her when I suddenly realized: I'm in the cell! I didn't dare open my eyes to find out for sure. In moments like this we are just human. Many years have passed
since then. Kiana has become a young woman. Teenage experiences that she cannot share with her mother. As I grew older, I began to miss my mother more and more. I was a little tired of her not being with us. I wanted my mother. I wish she had taught me how to do makeup, how to dress. She's a woman, we have the same body, she could teach me so many things about myself. But I had to figure everything out on my own. I wish my mother had been there to help me. Of course I miss them, but there are pe
ople who have it worse than me. And I consider myself lucky that my mother is alive. * Music * I also do sports. I want to move forward so I'm distracted and it just keeps going. It's an attempt to escape the situation, even if that ultimately isn't possible. My mother and father are my role models. I saw what they sacrificed, how happy they were to get out of prison, how they deal with it. They sacrificed nights and important moments, I remember how my mother came home from prison sick. That wa
s hard for me, but also an inspiration. My mother is a warrior and I am very proud of her. I wish that one day she would sit next to me and I would draw her. That would be cool. This is just a person I saw walking by, but I wanted to draw her. She was incredibly sublime and free at the same time. This young woman is amazing and I think freedom has something to do with it. Because when you feel free, that's wonderful. I think that freedom is everything. And if young women in Iran could be as free
as she is, that would be great. Through intermediaries, Narges Mohammadi secretly sends us a letter from prison. She writes about what moved her most during her interviews with torture victims. It shocked me how severe the consequences of solitary confinement are. Even decades later: strong effects on the soul, mind and even the body. One of the worst things was that they could open and close the door whenever they wanted. When I was free again, I always locked my door. Before, I wasn't at all
sensitive when someone came into my room. But now I was suddenly in shock as soon as I noticed movement. I was nervous that someone would come in and I wouldn't have control over it. When I was in the solitary cell, they told me: "We're going out and coming back with your family." When I entered the interrogation room, I heard the voices of a woman and a child. I felt a burning pain. My heart stopped beating. It later turned out that I had a stroke. I can hardly see anymore. I can barely read wi
th my right eye anymore. I can't drive, I can't write, I can't even see my food properly. If you take a human and put them in a meat grinder, what comes out might have some human material in them. But solitary confinement, when you get out of it, there's nothing left of you. Even if you have the motivation to fight back. Solitary confinement really tries to destroy a person. "White torture", a method through which all people eventually break. The regime forces confessions in order to publicly pr
esent the detainees as guilty. The political activist Abdollah Momeni also experienced this. The present indictment has been framed on the basis of solid evidence and clear and unambiguous confessions of the accused. When I read the confession, I felt immense hatred for myself. I wondered why I was so weak and thought about how I could make it up to me. You feel like you are the dirtiest person in the world and that can drive you to suicide. I think of those who made forced confessions while in
solitary confinement and were executed. Their stories are buried with them. In December 2023, Narges Mohammadi is not in solitary confinement, but in the women's wing for long-term political prisoners in Evin Prison. Taking photos is not allowed. These come from the hacked surveillance camera from another wing. The pictures come very close to the situation. Beds placed against the wall, bunk beds. Those who were inside say that it is very close to what it looks like in the women's wing. Mariam C
laren has been a political activist since her mother, the German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi, was imprisoned in Iran three years ago. She was also committed to women's rights and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Narges and my mother have the same bedroom. Their beds are bed to bed, very close to each other. Some prisoners are allowed to use the phone from time to time. Narges Mohammadi repeatedly manages to smuggle out statements critical of the regime. This can be in one visit or spread over sev
eral phone calls. This could be about another prisoner answering these questions for Narges. It's not easy at all and very dangerous, which is why not every prisoner does it. With a serious heart condition, Narges Mohammadi is now dependent on medical care in the hospital. When the prison administration wants to force her to wear a headscarf for the journey there in November 2023, she goes on hunger strike. No food, no medicine. Risk of death. When Narges Mohammadi was allowed to go to the hospi
tal days later without a headscarf, friends created this photo montage. It's a small victory against the regime. Her refusal to wear a headscarf when taken to the hospital may seem trivial. But the Islamic Republic is like a big egg in which people are banging on the shell from the inside , hoping that the cracks it creates will one day break it. Narges Mohammadi is 51 years old. In total, she has spent almost nine years in prison and still has eight more years to go. But their will to fight has
become even stronger. She has decided that she wants to fight against solitary confinement. Today Narges is much braver and more determined in what she does than before. Her humanity is what impresses me the most. Others are more important to her than she is. She is stubborn and sometimes that is not good. But in situations like this it is a strength. Because she never gives up. Victory is not easy and it won't come tomorrow, but it is certain. That's what she said and I believe it. Unyielding
— unbreakable. Against a regime that continues to hold power firmly in its hands. That has oppressed its opponents and silenced so many. Even if there are now no major protests, many continue to resist by breaking the rules of the Islamic Republic. I don't think there are any more protests in Iran. In my religious family, my sister took off her headscarf shortly after the events. The movement is like embers among the ashes. The fire can reignite at any time. Narges Mohammadi will receive the Nob
el Peace Prize 2023. It is an award and an incentive to everyone who took to the streets and risked their lives for "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" - "Woman, Life, Freedom" . That is their message. From Evin Prison. I expect all of you to help free people from authoritarian systems, both religious and misogynistic. Stand up for peace! Copyright subtitles: hr 2023
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