“White Torture” – Narges Mohammadi and her fight for Human Rights in Iran
What is white torture?
Thursday 7 September at 6 pm CEST Transform Trondheim International Festival invites you to a seminar hosted at the Kunsthall Trondheim.
Narges Mohammadi is a prominent Human Rights defender in Iran. For years she has actively protested acid attacks on women, fought for Women’s and Minorities rights and worked against the use of death penalties. She’s been sentenced to 30 years in prison for this work. A well known method of punishment agains political prisoners, especially in Iran, is White Torture. A method where the prisoner is placed under totalt sensory deprivation and isolation. Kept in a cell they’re stripped of all senses and identity. It’s all white, the food is white and bland, they can’t hear any sounds, don’t communicate with others, the light doesn’t cast shadows and all surfaces are totally smooth. The prisoner can be kept like this for months or years, and most break in the end.
Narges Mohammed has produced the documentary and published the book White Torture where twelve women, herself included are interviewed about their experiences with this form of torture.
Asieh Amini – Host, Iranian Human Rights Activist, Free Town-author and journalist.
PANELISTS
John Peder Egenæs – general secretary, Amnesty International Norge
Taghi Rahmani – Iran’s most arrested journalist, married to Narges Mohammadi. Currently living with their children in exile in France
Massood Mafa – publisher and former board member of Swedish Pen.Head publisher at Baran Förlag whose published sensored Iranian authors since 1991. Central in the publishing of White Torture
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – British-Iranian citizen, arrested at the airport in Teheran in April 2016 with her 2 year old daughter, sentenced to six years in prison. Has been subjected to white torture and is a part of Narges’ book. Was released in March 2022 after a horse trade with the UK
Mahnaz Parakand – lawyer. Went to prison as a student, and was sentenced to death in 1981. The verdict was later overturned. Has defended Nobel Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and the Bahai-leaders. Fled to Norway in 2011 due to persistent threats of jail time and execution.
In collaboration with Amnesty Midt-Norge and Litteraturhuset.