Narges Mohammadi’s children accepted her prize

Mahsa Amini, the 22-year old woman whose September 2022 killing sparks countrywide protests in Iran, a human rights lawyer says

The family of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year old woman whose September 2022 killing sparked countrywide protests in Iran, has been prohibited from traveling to France to collect a human rights award in her name.

He added he’d informed the authorities of the family’s plan to travel a month in advance but was not made aware of a travel ban until they were at the airport.

Mahsa Amini, who also went by her Kurdish name, Jina, died while in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police. She was accused of violating Iran’s strict dress code for women, also known as the hijab. The death of a fellow citizen spurred protests that spread throughout the country for months and brought people from all walks of life to the streets.

Iran has travel bans which are common as an Iranian-American human rights lawyer told NPR. Activists are often prevented from going to overseas, where they can get more attention, for their cause.

“And there’s a heighted sensitivity that her family’s presence would shine a light on the situation in Iran,” said Nia, adding Iranian authorities clearly wanted to avoid the optics of a bereaved family speaking on an international stage about how the brutality of Iran’s Morality Police caused the death of their loved one.

“They know what happened with Mahsa Amini is problematic for them, and they really want people to think that it wasn’t reflective of a systemic problem,” Nia said.

“Woman, Life, Freedom,” the slogan coined in protests after Amini’s death, wasn’t just a rallying cry against the enforcement of the hijab or for women’s rights. It came to represent a demand for major reforms across Iran, which has been ruled by hardline clerics since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Iranians face constant crackdowns on free speech, press freedom, LGBTQ rights, manners of dress, pubic displays of affection, dancing or performing music in public, and more.

Since those protests, according to HRANA, at least 19,000 have been arrested in the country. According to the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least seven people have been executed for their ties to the protests. Toomaj Salehi and Saman Yasin are among the others who are imprisoned and facing the possibility of execution.

The committee said that Mohammadi was sentenced to 31 years in prison for “spreading anti- state propaganda” and 154 lashes for his fifth conviction. Mohammadi was confident that the light of liberty and justice would shine on the land of Iran. The anthem of the people’s triumph on the streets of Iran will be an example of how democracy and human rights can be upheld around the world. The speech was met with a standing ovation. After her mentor and colleague, who won in 2003 and was in attendance, Mohammadi is the second recipient from Iran.

At a ceremony to honor her mother’s work, Kiana Rahmani started a speech.

“I write this message from behind the high, cold walls of a prison,” they read. I am an Iranian woman who contributes to civilization and is currently under the oppression of a religious government.

Mohammadi has been arrested by the Iranian regime 13 times, convicted five times, and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes for charges of “spreading anti-state propaganda,” according to the committee.