Few Iranian women are as celebrated for defending freedom in Iran as Narges Mohammadi. She is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Andrei Sakharov Prize, the Olof Palme Prize, and the PEN and UNESCO press freedom awards, among others.

Yet, like thousands of other political prisoners in Iran, her own freedom still matters little to the powerful forces around her.

As US President Donald Trump’s administration negotiates a deal with the Iranian regime to end their nearly four-month war, Mohammadi’s fate has not received even a mention. There has been no commitment from Iran to release political prisoners as part of the deal. Nor does it appear the Trump administration has even made this request at any stage of the negotiation.

Just over a month ago, Mohammadi was fighting for her life. The 54-year-old activist had two suspected heart attacks in prison in northern Iran. After weeks of battling for access to medical care, she was granted a temporary suspension of her sentence on heavy bail and transferred to a hospital in Tehran.

In mid-May, she was moved from intensive care back to her home in Tehran under medical care and heavy security.

Fighting against the regime

For more than two decades, Mohammadi has insisted on seeing, naming and resisting the human rights violations of the Islamic Republic. These include employing the death penalty as a tool of social control, as well as the use of torture and what she calls “white torture”, or prolonged solitary confinement. She has also fought against a system of gender apartheid that polices women’s bodies and speech.

As a........

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