White Torture

Female prisoners of conscience and activists speak out against torture in Iranian prisons

Fourteen women testify to the shocking human rights abuses in Iranian prisons

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2023

'A must-read for anyone concerned with human rights in Iran. A gripping, moving and utterly shocking account.' Kylie Moore-Gilbert

Iranian prisons systematically violate human rights. In White Torture, fourteen women, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, share their experiences of imprisonment: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment. Angry interrogators threaten their families and lie about their whereabouts. One prisoner is even told she is dead.

None of the women have committed crimes – they are prisoners of conscience or held hostage as bargaining chips. Through torture, the Iranian state hopes to remake their souls. These interviews, carried out by Narges Mohammadi while each woman was in prison or facing charges, are astounding documents of resistance and integrity. As Iranians still fight for Woman, Life, Freedom, White Torture indicts the regime for its crimes.

Narges Mohammadi is a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and one of Iran's leading activists for democracy. In the thick of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, she organised an International Women's Day rally in Evin Prison. She campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty, women’s rights and the right to protest. She has spent over nine years in Iranian prisons and has been incarcerated since November 2021 serving her latest sentence. Her work has been praised by Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and PEN. Her family now lives in France.