White Torture
Book of the Week
‘White Torture’ by Narges Mohammadi
Reviewed by Anna Maryam Smith
“They will put me behind bars again. But I will not stop campaigning until human rights and justice prevail in my country” - Narges Mohammadi
Narges Mohammadi’s White Torture is a collection of interviews that capture the brutal, inhumane, and unfathomable conditions that women in the Iranian penal system are forced to endure. White Torture, the title of the book, is a noun used to describe forms of torture in which individuals are subjected to sensory deprivation and isolation from others - also known as solitary confinement. Mohammadi has sacrificed her freedom to fight for the abolishment of white torture and continues to do so to this day.
Each of the chapters in this book captures the lived reality of a different woman’s experience in an Iranian prison - many in ward 209 of Evin Prison (the primary housing site for political prisoners in Iran). The stories Mohammadi transcribes are powerful and critical. They are stories of women who have fought tirelessly for Iran to be a place where women can exist freely and be whoever they wish.
I’ll admit that it took a while for the gravity of Mohammadi’s words to properly sink in. I have had the privilege of experiencing an existence and an upbringing that hasn’t been fraught by the harsh and brutal realities of women in Iran. For my entire childhood I have heard stories of Iran, most through a loving and nostalgic lens. A lens that is tinted by detachment and a longing for an Iran that once was. Mohammadi brings to light a reality that is often entirely censored and hidden: a reality in which women are brutally punished for being themselves, for speaking their minds, for fighting for liberty.
I have a huge amount of respect for Mohammadi, Afsharzadeh, Daemi, Zahtabchi, Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Shahriari, Shahidi, Tabatabai, Kiani, Mohammadi, Moradi, Nouri, Yadollahi, and Amiri, for so selflessly offering their stories to us and for continuously fighting for freedom and human rights for women everywhere.
Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.