To: Government of Iran

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, joined by individual writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders, and other allies, are writing to urge the immediate release of Narges Mohammadi, currently being held in prison in Iran. Narges is the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner and was also awarded both the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize earlier this year. Yet despite massive global recognition for her tireless advocacy for women’s rights and human rights in Iran, Narges is currently serving multiple politically-motivated prison sentences totalling over 30 years. Given the precarious state of her health, we are extremely concerned for her physical well-being.

For over a decade, Narges has faced a sequence of ordeals including a series of arrests, false retaliatory charges, medical neglect, and abusive treatment in custody, including prolonged periods in solitary confinement, all as a result of her peaceful expression and activism. She has been torn away from her family and is not allowed even phone contact with her husband and children. Her health has severely declined due to egregious prison conditions and medical neglect by authorities; they have repeatedly refused to give her regular access to essential health check-ups with a specialist for an ongoing heart and pulmonary condition because she refuses to wear the mandatory hijab. On November 6, she undertook a 3-day hunger strike to protest the care denial. Her life and safety are at risk.

We, the undersigned, demand that the Iranian government immediately release Narges Mohammadi and ensure she receives proper medical care. We also urge the Iranian authorities to facilitate a reunion with her family, who she has not seen in eight years, and to allow her to travel to Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony on December 10, where her courageous work will be rightfully celebrated. Narges’ story is one of extraordinary courage in the face of adversity, making her name synonymous with the fight for human rights in Iran. Her experience underscores the global struggles for free expression and women’s equality and serves as a stark reminder of the heavy price that dissidents and activists pay in the name of freedom and equal rights.

We concurrently call on the international community to urgently press for Narges Mohammadi’s release. It is a moral imperative to prioritize human rights over political considerations and to advocate for the freedom of those who use their voices to defy tyranny and to champion justice and equality. Narges’ continued imprisonment is not just a violation of her rights but a stark reminder of the extent of the brutal persecution still faced by political dissidents and human rights defenders in Iran and around the world today. Her case is indicative of systemic abuse, and accentuates the pressing need for human rights to be an integral part of any negotiations or relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Nobel Peace Prize is not just a personal accolade, but it represents a global acknowledgment of the need for change and justice in Iran. Her presence at the ceremony would provide hope to all those around the world, and especially the brave Iranians, who strive to make a difference so that their dreams of a more just world can be realized.

Individual Signatories:

Aatish Taseer | Abbas Milani | Abraham Verghese | Agneta Pleijel | Ahdaf Soueif | Ahmed Naji | Albert Salama | Alec Soth | Ali Akbar Mahdi | Ali Banuazizi | Alice Dahle | Alice Schwarzer | Alice Sebold | Alix Ritchie | Allison Markin Powell | Amir Soltani | Andrew Solomon | Anna Porter | Anne Tyler | Annelie David | Annie Kabala | Anya Salama | Ariel Dorfman | Art Spiegelman | Arundhati Roy | Åsa Selling | Awet Fissehaye | Ayad Akhtar | Ayelet Waldman | Azadeh Kian | Azar Nafisi | Babs Gons | Barbara Honigmann | Behrouz Boochani | Bettina Flitner | Cab Tran | Calvin Trillin | Camilla Silfvenius | Carina Nunstedt | Chang-rae Lee | Chiara Macconi | Claes Erixson | Claire Dederer | Coco Fusco | Colm Tóibín | Colum McCann | Connie Palmen | Daniel Handler | David Henry Hwang | Deborah Billings | Dev Benegal | Diana Andringa | Dolors Udina | Drago Pisel | Elham Malekpoor Arashlu | Elif Refiğ | Elin Cullhed | Elisha July | Elizabeth Hemmerdinger | Emma Thompson | Erik Betten | Farhad Khosrokhavar | Farzaneh Milani | Fatemeh Shams | Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet | Florence Tonk | Francine Prose | Freeda Saba-Limonadi | Frieda Afary | Gabrielle Alioth | Gary Shteyngart | George Saunders | Gerda Baardman | Gerda Blees | Giorgio Silfer | Golroch Jahangiri | Haideh Moghissi | Hamed Sinno | Hamid Akbari | Hamid Shirazi | Hanneke Eggels | Hans Kloos | Hans van Eijk | Hari Kunzru | Hellen Nosrat | Herta Müller | Hester Knibbe | Homa Hoodfar | Homa Sarshar | Horacio Siciliano | Isa Widerståhl | Jacqueline Zirkzee | Jale Tabrizi | Jaleh Lackner-Gohari | Jaleh Niazi | James Hannaham | Jamileh Davoudi | Janet Afary | Jeff Kaufman | Jenny Fagerlund | Jessica Hagedorn | J.M. Coetzee | Joanne Leedom-Ackerman | Job Degenaar | John Green | Jolande Withuis | Jona Lendering | Jonathan Franzen | Joyce Carol Oates | Judith Butler | Kamran Matin | Katarina Wennstam | Kazem Alamdari | Ken Miller | Khaled Hosseini | Klas Ekman | Kristoffer Lind | Kylie Moore-Gilbert | Lan Cung | Lauren Embrey | Layla Diba | Lev Grossman | Lloyd Duong | Louise Boije | Louise Erdrich | LP Hansen | Lutz Rathenow | Lydia Davis | Ma Thida | Maarten Doorman | Magdalena Hedlund | Mahnaz Afkhami | Mahnaz Parakand | Mandana Zandian | Mansour Farhang | Mansoureh Shojaee | Marc Veerkamp | Marcia Ross | Margaret Atwood | Margaret Busby | Marie Arana | Marieke van der Pol | Marjane Satrapi | Marko Martin | Markus Dohle | Mary Karr | Maryam Shirinsokhan | Martine Woudt | Mehrangiz Kar | Mehrdad Amanat | Mehrdad Darvishpour | MD Moheuddin | Michael Idov | Michael Ondaatje | Michael Pollan | Mihan Rusta | Mira Kamdar | Miro Lucassen | Mojgan Shajarian | Molly Crabapple | Monireh Baradaran | Moniru Ravanipur | Nadezda Cacinovic | Nahid Nosrat | Nasrin Rahimieh | Nayereh Tohidi | Nazanin Boniadi | Neil Bissoondath | Nick Hilden | Nicky Nodjoumi | Nicole Krauss | Niloofar Beyzaie | Nora Bayani | Norman Rush | Olga Majeau | Omar El Akkad | Omar Robert Hamilton | Orhan Pamuk | Oskar Eustis | Parastou Forouhar | Parisa Saranj | Partow Nooriala | Parvaneh Farid-Monfared | Parvaneh Hosseini | Parvin Ardalan | Parvin Malek | Patricia Fili-Krushel | Patrik Hadenius | Paul Auster | Per Almgren | Per Wästberg | Perla Martinelli | Peter Gelauff | Peter Swanborn | Phil Klay | Philip Gourevitch | Philippe Sands | Raghu Karnad | Rashid Novaire | Rebecka Leffler | Reza Aslan | Reza Goharzad | Reza Moridi | Rezvan Moghaddam | Richard Stengel | Robert Pinsky | Ron Chernow | Rosanne Cash | Rose Styron | Roxanne Donovan | Roya Hakakian | Ruth Borthwick | Ruth Weiss | Saeed Paivandi | Saeed Rahnema | Saeid Dehghan | Salil Tripathi | Salman Rushdie | Sandra Cisneros | Sandra Ramirez | Sara Nodjoumi | Scott Turow | Sean Kelly | Shahidul Alam | Shahrnush Parsipur | Shelley Burne-Field | Shirin Daghighian | Shirin Ebadi | Shiva Mahbobi | Sholeh Wolpé | Sibila Petlevski | Simon Schama | Simon van der Geest | Siri Hustvedt | Sorour Kasmaï | Stacy Schiff | Sudabeh Farokhnia | Susan Orlean | Susan Rakhsh | Susanna Romanus | Sytske Sötemann | Tao An | Tara Westover | Taraneh Roosta | Till Schauder | Tobias Wolff | Toi Van Nguyen | Tom Healy | Tomica Bajsić | Touraj Atabaki | Vanda Mikšić | Verónica Cruz Sánchez | Vibe Klarup | Victoria Redel | Viet Thanh Nguyen | Wajahat Ali | Wanuri Kahiu | Yashica Dutt | Zdravko Zima |

Organizational Signatories:

Article 19 | Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) | Croatian PEN Centre | Danish PEN | English PEN | Finnish PEN | Freedom House | Frontline Defenders (FLD) | Human Rights Watch | Independent Chinese PEN Center | Iranian PEN Centre in Exile | Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann | Miaan Group | PEN Belarus | PEN Brazil | PEN Cambodia | PEN Canada | PEN Català | PEN Eritrea | PEN Esperanto | PEN Greece | PEN International | PEN Melbourne | PEN Myanmar | PEN Netherlands | PEN New Zealand | PEN Norway | PEN Perth | PEN Portugal | PEN Québec | PEN Türkiye | PEN Vlaanderen | PEN Zimbabwe | Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) | Reporters Without Borders (RSF) | San Miguel PEN Center | Siamak Pourzand Foundation (SPF) | Swedish PEN | United for Iran | Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre


 

Join scores of prominent writers, artists, and civil society organizations, as well as hundreds of free speech and human rights advocates from around the globe, in demanding that the Iranian government allow Narges Mohammadi to travel to Oslo for the Nobel Prize award ceremony on December 10. Narges has dedicated her life to the strnouggle for freedom and women’s rights in Iran at a cost to her personal health and well-being and must be allowed to attend the Nobel ceremony, where she would also be reunited with her family following an 8-year separation. Add your name here.