White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners

Written by Narges Mohammadi

Narrated by Siiri Scott

Written by the winner of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

Female prisoners of conscience and activists speak out against torture in Iranian prisons

With a foreword by Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner

Extended solitary confinement has been condemned as a severe violation of human rights. Yet it is still widely used in Iranian prisons. In White Torture, thirteen women, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, share their experiences of imprisonment: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment. Angry interrogators threaten their families and lie about their whereabouts. One prisoner is even told she is dead.

None of the women have committed crimes – they are prisoners of conscience or held hostage as bargaining chips. Through psychological torture, the Iranian state hopes to remake their souls. These interviews, carried out while each woman was in prison or facing charges, are astounding documents of resistance and integrity. White Torture unveils the rot at the heart of the Iranian legal system and calls on us to act for change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks
• Release date: Jan 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667076041

Narges Mohammadi

Narges Mohammadi is Vice President of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. A professional engineer, she lost her post in 2009, following a jail sentence. As a journalist, she wrote many articles arguing for social reforms in Iran and published an essay collection, The Reforms, the Strategy, and the Tactics. She campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty, women’s rights and the right to protest. She has spent over eight years in Iranian prisons and has been incarcerated since November 2021 – the same year she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her work has been praised by Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and PEN. Her documentary White Torture won an award for reportage at the International Film Festival and Human Rights’ Forum. Her family now lives in France.