Narges Mohammadi says Iranians bear heavy cost of war and repression

Iran's most prominent human rights activist says ordinary Iranians are bearing an "extremely heavy price" as war, economic hardship and internal repression leave little room to breathe.

Narges Mohammadi, 54, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, spoke in an interview conducted remotely from outside Iran. She was temporarily released from prison earlier this year on medical grounds after losing consciousness and being moved to a hospital.

Her memoir, A Woman Never Stops Fighting, was written behind bars, with sections smuggled out by fellow inmates. Editions in French, German and nine other languages are being released this month, while the English and Farsi editions are due next year. Her representatives said the release timing honours Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old who died in hospital after being detained over Iran's strict Islamic dress code, and whose death sparked the 2022 protests.

Mohammadi traced the current mood to those demonstrations, describing a continuing wave of awareness and resistance. She said government repression has intensified, but that many in a younger generation know their rights and are standing firm. "And that gives us reason for hope," she said.

She also described her most recent arrest in December in Mashhad, where she was attending a memorial for human rights lawyer Khosrow Alikordi and was detained while giving a public speech. She said she was severely beaten, with most blows landing on her head, and was sentenced to 16 years and more than 100 lashes. She has not been flogged but spent long periods in solitary confinement.

"My detention was really life-threatening," she said, adding that she was held in solitary for two months despite her injuries and lost consciousness once before being taken to Imam Reza hospital in Mashhad. She lost consciousness again on May 1, was released on bail nearly ten days later and spent about two more weeks in a Tehran hospital. She said she is now recovering.

Mohammadi began the memoir in 2019 during an earlier stint in Tehran's Evin prison, but lost her handwritten notes when she was moved to Zanjan prison. She restarted the project after returning to Evin, relying on fellow inmates to get pages out a few at a time. "If it weren't for them, I couldn't have done it," she said.

She said the book's message is that life must be built and continued with hope under any conditions, and that it portrays a life under authoritarian rule that can hold meaning for a woman, a mother and a person with ideals. She drew inspiration from women around her, beginning with her mother, whom she described as an ordinary woman who understood the roots of women's repression and guarded her own independence.

Mohammadi also recalled frightening childhood memories from the 1980s Iran-Iraq war and said they shaped her hatred of war. She said she was alarmed to learn that Evin prison had been bombed during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025, a period when she was out of prison.

She has received sentences totalling 44 years and has already spent 10 years in prison, including 161 days in solitary confinement.