A BRAVE Iranian mum has revealed the horror atrocities she had to endure after being jailed by Iran’s cruel Revolutionary Guard for four years.
A 40-year-old woman from Shiraz province in the country shared with The Sun how women are being imprisoned, physically abused, and tortured by guards as part of a targeted effort to suppress female dissent.
The mum of a two-year-old baby described how her fingertips have now gone numb because of the brutal beatings she received inside prison.
She was arrested by the IRGC for being part of a female resistance unit working with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).
Due to the potential threats from the Iranian regime, The Sun has chosen not to name any interviewees for this story to protect their identities.
Speaking from inside Iran, the brave mum told The Sun: “I spent four years in prison because I demanded my basic human rights and protested against the Mullahs’ oppression.
“The IRGC stormed my house one day and snatched me in front of my family. They began torturing me from the first morning. I was beaten a lot.
“For months they kept me in solitary confinement. It was a one by one metre cell.
“During interrogations, they repeatedly beat me with a metallic ruler – especially on the tip of my fingers. They have gone numb now. I don’t feel anything there anymore.”
The woman said that almost all female prisoners are tortured systematically once they are jailed, but political prisoners are tortured even more.
I was beaten mercilessly with a metiallic ruller. My finger tips have now gone numb and I don’t feel anything there anymore.
An Iranian mum
“[The regime] makes them suffer, both physically and mentally. There was one pregnant woman who was beaten so badly that she lost her baby. I cannot even imagine what she must have gone through,” she said.
“I have been sent to different prisons over the years, and I have witnessed horrible situations where female inmates had to endure unspeakable torture at the hands of the guards.”
“Throughout my life, I have seen many women put inside jail because of trying to resist the regime. However, political prisoners who are affiliated with resistance units are tortured even more.
“They have to go through unimaginable horrors.”
A tailor by profession, the mum, wanted to become a judge, but she was forced to quit her education and stay inside her house for most of her life.
She said: “When I was a young girl, I was made to believe I was not a human. I was told women were meant to stay inside the home, just doing household stuff.
“Today I work as a tailor but this is not what I wanted. I dreamed of becoming a judge, but I was told it is not something a woman can become.
“I was forced to quit my studies. My dreams were shattered.”
The woman grew up in a regressive family and was forced to live a life full of restrictions.
She was denied all the basic rights, including the freedom to dress.
“Living as a woman is as hard as it can be inside Iran. The regime believes that being a woman is a shame. The mullahs can’t stand them,” she added.
Meanwhile, another woman from Tehran told The Sun how she was arrested as a teen for expressing independent political views when she was in high school.
Speaking in Farsi, the woman, now 35, said: “I was accused of engaging in politics and was always under the surveillance of security and intelligence forces at the university. They monitored every detail of my life.
“Once I expressed political opinions in high school and a case was filed against me.
“The same night,[the IRGC] raided our house and took me away. They thought I had connections with the female residence unit in Iran.
“I was held in solitary confinement for four months and then transferred to the general ward with ordinary prisoners [as a way of putting psychological torture on political prisoners] where I stayed for more than two months.
Living as a woman is as hard as it can be inside Iran. The regime believes that being a woman is a shame. The mullahs can’t stand them.
An Iranian mum
“There I saw many women who had entered the paths of crime due to poverty. Ironically, most of these women had husbands, brothers, or fathers who were members of the Revolutionary Guards and were affiliated with the regime.”
Despite getting top grades in school, the woman was not allowed to enter university because of her political engagements. She was later forced to take up a low-grade course
She said: “I had a lot of trouble continuing my education at the university because of my political background.
“I took the university entrance exam for several years, and despite having very good grades and ranks, they prevented me from entering university.
I was held in solitary confinement because I expressed political opinions.
An Iranian woman
“I was later forced to take up a course that I never wished to.”
“Growing up under the ruling religious dictatorship was a significant challenge for me where a woman is valued by her husband.
The brave woman, who works for MEK’s female resistance unit, added: “Women in Iran are under a lot of pressure because of the regime.
“Be it inside the family, society or workplace, they are always discriminated against and are subjected to grave injustices.”
Both the brave women told The Sun that they remain positive about a democratic Iran, adding the protests led by women “will conquer” and the regime would one day be toppled.
WAR AGAINST WOMEN
Iran’s violence against women has intensified under tyrant Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s brutal theocratic regime.
The country has long been accused of severely oppressing women and denying them basic human rights in a patriarchal society.
Law enforcers of the country have severely escalated torture against women who do not comply with the brutal state laws.
This includes chasing women on the roads, storming their houses, beating them – and even executing prisoners who oppose the regime’s ideologies.
One video from Tehran shows a woman being beaten by officers before she was dragged into a cop van.
In another, a woman is heard asking, “Let me put on [my headscarf]” while a male officer tases her.
Just weeks ago, a university student was snatched by cops and was reportedly taken to a mental hospital after she stripped to her underwear in public.
It was a show of protest against the Iranian regime after security forces assaulted her for not following strict hijab rules.
Her clothes and headscarf were torn during the assault at the Azad University of Science and Research in Tehran, according to Iranian media.
She was later seen being violently bundled into a car near the university.
In July, agents from Iran’s police force fired lethal ammunition at a car 31-year-old Arezou Badri was travelling in, leaving her gravely injured.
The agents were seeking to confiscate the car as part of enforcing compulsory veiling laws.
In August, a disturbing video circulated on social media showing multiple agents violently assaulting two 14-year-old girls who had removed their headscarves.
One of the girls, Nafas Hajisharif, said in a media interview: “They were pulling me by my hair, shouting at me and cursing…when they took me inside the van, they threw me onto the floor.
“One female agent hit me, put her knee on my throat, and hit my head hard. My head was stuck between the seats, and they were kicking the side of my torso.”
MAHSA AMINI’S ‘MURDER’
Two years ago, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was beaten to death by Morality Police – Iran’s Islamic vice squad upholding its religious morals – for not wearing a hijab.
It was an event that shocked the world.
The murder led to widespread violent protests across the country demanding freedom and democratic rights.
The uprising and unity among the Iranian public even rocked the regime to its core.
However, in the past two years, the Iranian government has deployed more measures to suppress democratic activism – and there has been a stark increase in human rights abuses.
These include hundreds of unlawful killings, tens of thousands of arbitrary arrests, widespread torture, including rape of detainees and widespread harassment of victims’ families who call for truth and justice, Amnesty International reports.
Under the rule of the misogynistic regime, physical violence against women has increased each year, reaching extensive proportions.
A report from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has found evidence that physical violence, including beating, kicking, and slapping women and girls, has increased against females and girls in recent years.
The brutal crackdown often targets those who speak against the regime, and demand basic human rights such as freedom of expression, religion, belief and autonomy.
State-sponsored agents, including morality police, traffic police, and plainclothes agents, enforce regulations and suppress dissent in Iran.
They are supported by the judiciary (prosecution offices and courts), the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Revolutionary Guards, including its Basij forces.
The regime has also increased the monitoring of hijab compliance in both public and private areas to an extent where drones are now used as a means of surveillance.
Meanwhile, political executions and other criminal laws are rampantly used to terrorise protesters and crush dissidents’ voices.
FEMALE MURDERS IN IRAN
Women in Iran including young girls and the elderly lack safety both on the streets and in their own homes.
Even if they survive the brutality of the repressive forces on the streets, there is a chance they may fall victim at home due to the deeply patriarchal society.
At least 149 women and girls have been killed by their male family members from January to the end of October 2024, according to a report obtained by The Sun.
This includes honour killings due to a suspicion of dishonour, arguments with male members of the family, refusal of forced marriage or sex, a desire for divorce, or even simply pursuing their legal rights and education.
Among the victims are pregnant women and mothers killed alongside their infants or children.
In many cases, such atrocities are committed in front of children or other members of the family, leaving a deep impact on others that ultimately fuels the cycle of violence.
Since official statistics from Iran are unreliable, current figures and reports are solely based on limited news published by independent local media.
And many cases are never publicised or recorded due to the misogynistic nature of the regime and its lack of transparency.
It is believed that the incomplete data is just the tip of the iceberg.
FEARS OF UPRISING
Iran’s efforts to get a grip over its population are said to have stemmed from fears of another public uprising which the regime may not be able to contain.
The country recently pushed for a “draconian law” called the Culture of Chastity and Hijab bill that further threatened the human rights of women and girls.
The bill proposed imposing death penalty, flogging, violent prison terms and other severe penalties to crush ongoing resistance to compulsory veiling.
It was drafted last year in response to widespread defiance of compulsory veiling by women and girls in protest at the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
However, the law, which was set to pass in the parliament last week, has now been suspended, fearing widespread uprising.
It comes at a time when Iran has suffered multiple blows – the downfall of its proxy forces like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad’s humiliating ouster in Syria.
Its economy has been crippled and there is growing unrest among the public that the regime fears could turn into a dissatisfied and rebellious society.
The situation for women in Iran is becoming worse with each passing day, and the only way to establish a democracy is a regime change.
