Iranian intellectual Taghi Rahmani (Qazvin, 64 years old) knows well the regime that kept him in prison for 14 years: the Islamic Republic of Iran. The same one that imprisoned his wife, Narges Mohammadi, eight years ago and for which he had to go into exile in Paris with his twin sons. In two months, the teenagers will turn 17; they have not seen their mother for nine years and “have not heard her voice for two”. Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2023, is not allowed to call them by phone from Evin prison in Tehran, where he is serving 10 years in prison for his defense of human rights. Rahmani presents this Wednesday at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid his wife’s book: White Torture: Interviews with imprisoned Iranian women (Alianza Editorial), at an event of the Baha’i Community of Spain, Amnesty International and the Iranian Association for Human Rights. The presentation will commemorate the second anniversary, on September 16, of the protests sparked by the death in police custody of Yina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman detained in Tehran for wearing her veil incorrectly. These demonstrations, Rahmani told this newspaper, showed that the Iranian regime lacks popular support. And without that support, she says, Iran cannot enter into an all-out war with Israel.
AskWhat is the situation of your wife, almost a year after the Nobel Prize?
Answer. Three months ago, Narges [Mohammadi] She read a statement accusing security forces of sexual violence during interrogations of detainees during protests over Mahsa’s death. [Amini]. She was sentenced to an additional year in prison. Now she has another trial pending in which more years will be added. She does not even appear in court; she knows that the sentences are decided by the security forces. My wife has not been released from prison for the Nobel Prize, but her voice is now heard more widely around the world. Narges has just asked in another statement to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, to put pressure on Iran to release political prisoners and end the death penalty in the country. Prisons in Iran are now the heart of protests against the regime.
P. What remains of the 2022 demonstrations?
R.The women’s movement in my country has forced the [líder supremo, el ayatolá Ali] Khamenei to reverse his policies. The laws have not been changed, discrimination continues, but his legacy is that Iranians have already changed the regime in their minds and women have conquered the streets: there is a before and after. There is also a total break between the population and the Islamic Republic. This change has been cultural, but it has influenced politics. With Ebrahim Raisi [el presidente fallecido en un accidente de helicóptero]Khamenei had given all political power to the conservative faction. Now, he has brought [Masud] Pezeshkian [el nuevo presidente iraní, moderado]who was allowed to stand so that more people would vote. Turnout rose a little, but not too much. People are now dissatisfied, but expectant. If Pezeshkian responds to their wishes, he will have to face Khamenei, and if he does so, the population will reject him. The regime has raised [a la presidencia] Pezeshkian with concrete goals, such as reviving the nuclear deal with the West to ease sanctions against the Iranian economy.
P. Do you want to relieve the pressure on the authorities in this way?
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RKhamenei wants to resolve this issue not to improve the lives of the people, but to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic. He would be shaking hands with Satan to achieve this goal.
P. Pezeshkian has given signs of easing tensions with the West.
R. This Tuesday he spoke in New York [donde se celebra la asamblea general de la ONU] and he has alluded to peace. Before, the official Iranian discourse was: “We are going to destroy this or that.” He knows that if war [de Gaza] If the sanctions extend to the entire Middle East, he will not be able to do anything, because in Iran the real power is in the hands of the military establishment. When Israel killed Ismail Haniya in Tehran, Pezeshkian told Khamenei that if Iran responded, the West would not lift sanctions. [El primer ministro israelí, Benjamín] Netanyahu wants to extend the war, but Iran will not enter into a conflict with him. To get involved in a war, you need economic, military and social strength, and Iran only has military strength, which is not enough. Above all, the regime would not have the support of the population.
PAnd can its Lebanese ally Hezbollah go to war without Iran’s permission?
R. The Iranian regime will not allow Hezbollah to enter into an all-out war with Israel. With other allies, such as Hamas or the Houthis in Yemen, it does not have that kind of authority, but with Hezbollah, it does. Iran is maintaining restraint against Israel because it knows that a war with that country would serve the victory of Iran. [Donald] Trump in the US elections, which would prevent the nuclear agreement and the lifting of sanctions.
PIf sanctions are lifted, would Iranians be satisfied with an improving economy?
RLife, especially for the middle classes, would improve, but that does not mean that the Iranians would give up on their other demands. It would be one trench conquered before attacking others.
