Episode Details

In this episode, I speak with Nasrin Parvaz, the Iranian civil rights activist, author, and artist, about her life before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution, her arrest in 1982, and the eight years she spent in Iran’s infamous prison system, including the Joint Committee Interrogation Centre and Evin Prison.

Nasrin describes the rapid transformation of Iran after 1979, the policing of women’s rights and clothing, the crushing of union and political organizing, and the machinery of torture, intimidation, and public punishment that shaped daily life under the Islamic Republic.

We also explore the 1988 prisoner massacre, the long tail of repression into the present, and Nasrin’s reflections on the Women, Life, Freedom movement after Mahsa Amini’s death. She opens up about life as a refugee in London, the role of writing and art in survival, and why she believes Western governments often misunderstand and therefore sometimes worsen conditions for the Iranian people in their attempts to confront and contain the rule of the mullahs.

Nasrin is the author of One Woman’s Struggle in Iran: A Prison Memoir and The Secret Letters from X to A, and you can find out more about her work and activism at nasrinparvaz.org.

You can also check out Exiled Writers Ink, an organisation bringing together established and developing writers from repressive regimes and war-torn situations.

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