Narges Mohammadi: Prisoners of the Nobel-prize winner fear they will never see him again

Oslo, Norway
CNN
—

At the age of four, Ali Rahmani realized that his family would never lead a normal life.

He remembers the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrested his father. Since then, he and his twin sister Kiana lives are a series of arrests, separations and exiles. If one parent is present, the other is in prison.

Now 17 years old, the two will accept the Nobel Peace Prize this Sunday on behalf of their imprisoned mother, the famous Iranian Narges Mohammadi. They were going to give his Nobel speech smuggled out of the notorious Evin prison.

“I’m standing here, I’m trying to see the crowd. We’re going to stand there to give the speech,” Kiana told CNN as they toured the Oslo City Hall. the solemn ceremony will be held.

They walk in the arrangement of small seats under the high pictures towards the stage. Standing next to a picture of their mother wrapped in purple orchids, Kiana said, “We have to live through all of this. Many important people will be here…. This is the preparation of the mind.”

They haven’t seen their mother since they were eight years old and haven’t spoken to her in almost two years due to increasing communication restrictions. orders become more severe before the ceremony. For his activism, campaigning for human rights, in support of political prisoners and against the death penalty, Mohammadi and his family have paid a high price.

He was arrested 13 times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years and 154 lashes.

“We are very proud of everything he has done. What saddens us most today is that he is not there, because we should not be the people to be interviewed. That is my mother’s right but we will do our best to be her voice and represent what is happening in Iran,” said Ali.

The responsibility of being the voice not only of their mother but of their people has weighed on them.

“We are not here just for ourselves or our family, but for freedom and democracy and for the Woman Life Freedom movement,” said Kiana, referring to the national protests that resulted from the death of Mahsa Jhina Amini, 22 years in prison. Iran’s moral police in 2022.

It’s a road they don’t have to walk alone. In Oslo, they are still greeted by members of the Iranian diaspora as if their parents paid for their resistance to years in prison or deportation.

They say they understand and accept the sacrifice, despite the impact on their lives. They have lived with their father in exile in France since 2015.

“Yes, sometimes in my life I want my mother by my side,” Kiana told CNN. “During adolescence, your body changes, that’s the kind of question you ask your mother. There was no one to ask so I learned by myself. I would have been happy if she could have taken me shopping, taught me how to do makeup and how to take care of my body.”

He cherishes his mother’s childhood memories. “I describe her as a Disney mom, just like in the movies,” Kiana said. “If we’re hungry, we can eat as much ice cream as we want. If we want to help ourselves to more food, we can. He did everything he could to make us feel comfortable and have stability in our lives. He did both of those things just as well as my father does now.”

They hugged him again the day he was arrested, before they were nine years old. He prepared them in the morning, sent them to school and when they came back, he was gone.

Both Ali and Kiana find comfort in a simple light. Despite their growing concern about their mother’s failing health, they believe that international recognition and pressure on Iran can save her life.

Ali notes the news of the killing of political prisoners, in addition to the hundreds of others who died during the protests. “Many of the people of the country have lost their fathers, mothers and siblings,” he said.

“The truth is that I am happy that he is alive, because others have lost their loved ones and I can’t imagine how it feels,” said Kiana.

On Saturday, the day before the ceremony they announced that Mohammadi will start another hunger strike against the violation of human rights in Iran and the violation of the rights of the Bahais, the a religious group in Iran.

On their tour before the ceremony, they met Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who recognized Mohammadi’s struggle against “discrimination and oppression”. when he announced his Nobel prize on October 6.

He called on the Iranian government to free Mohammadi.

“I feel very sad and I feel it is a disgrace for Iran to imprison a person who has been recognized and found worthy of the peace prize. I think of him all the time and he will not get to have the chance to see this big thing,” Reiss-Andersen told CNN after meeting the twins. “But I also feel that it is good to represent his children and his wife,” he added.

The two get a glimpse of the show honoring their mother’s work at the Nobel Peace Center.

Since the 1990s, Mohammadi has advocated for women’s rights and democracy and worked with the Human Rights Watch, founded by 2003 Peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose photo is also featured in the exhibition.

The walls of the museum are lined with pictures from the younger siblings and unusual things of the small family, together with smiles. Ali and Kiana read the steps in a corner meant to restore the isolation they both endured from their parents. Ali recounts how their father, Tagi Rahmani, a political prisoner for 14 years, used to stay calm by walking back and forth, taking comfort in the carvings on the walls. left by former prisoners.

A form of “white justice” their mother recorded in painful detail in a book she wrote in prison, and also appeared in the museum.

The jail did not detain Mohammadi. He did not see the roads of Iran that are confused with many protests in 2022 against the theocracy. But, in audio recordings smuggled out of prison and shared with CNN, she is heard leading her fellow inmates in the famous “Women, Life, Freedom” protest song.

He continues to work tirelessly to expose sexual violence against political prisoners, including in a written interview with CNN this summer conducted by mediators. His prison sentence continues to increase, for charges of conspiracy against national security and spreading false news, among others.

He vows not to stop even if he spends the rest of his life in prison.

“I really don’t believe in seeing (my mother) again.” My mother has 10 years left on her sentence and every time she does something, like giving the sermon that we will read in the service, to add to his punishment,” said Kiana. “She will always be in my heart, and I accept that because the struggle, the movement, Woman Life Freedom, is worth it. Freedom and democracy are priceless. Every sacrifice is worth it.”