A Nobel Peace Prize winner in prison - Narges Mohammadi's fight for freedom in Iran | DW Documentary

Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi is one of the bravest women in the world. For more than 20 years, she has been fighting against the Iranian regime and its systematic oppression of women. Now she has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
But she won’t be able to accept the prize herself, because since 2021 she has once again been jailed, in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Mohammadi has been imprisoned 16 times for protesting against dictatorial regimes and human rights violations. She herself has experienced gender-based oppression and violence. She has been abused by regime officials and has survived "white torture,” a type of psychological torture carried out in solitary confinement. Her reports on "white torture" are harrowing: Prisoners are locked in two-by-three meter cells that are permanently lit, though often without any natural light. This form of torture is designed to psychologically break detainees, forcing them into false confessions which subsequently puts them at risk of being sentenced to execution. Inmates experience a complete loss of control - they lose their sense of time, space, and their own body. "White torture" leaves no visible scars. Nevertheless, upon release from prison, some people die as a result of mental breakdown or suicide, as they find they can no longer live with the traumatic effects.
Mohammadi’s Nobel Peace Prize also honors all the Iranians who took to the streets against their country’s regime under the slogan, "Woman, Life, Freedom.” This documentary by Katja Deiß and Narges Mohammadi is not only a portrait of the Iranian human rights activist, but an appeal from her jail cell: Mohammadi managed to smuggle messages out of prison for the film. She also produced a documentary herself during a period of release.
Unbreakable - My Fight for Freedom in Iran” was produced by Hessischer Rundfunk in co-production with Deutsche Welle and German Dream Productions. It gives voice to victims of torture, political activists, and members of Narges Mohammadi's family, who live in exile.