Iranian Political Activist, Shiva Mahbobi, Discussed Her Fight to Protect the Rights of Political Prisoners and the Current Situation in Iran at the Cambridge Union
Shiva Mahbobi shared her experiences surrounding the two times she was held as a political prisoner, her extensive activism work, and her perspectives on the current situation in Iran.
By Gretel Cuevas
The Iranian political activist internationally recognised for her work to improve the situation of political prisoners in Iran, Shiva Mahbobi, spoke to the students at the Cambridge Union Society on February 4. The activist addressed the human rights crisis in Iran that, for almost four decades since the Revolution, has been responsible for the torture, rape, and execution of thousands of civilians and political prisoners — mainly women, members of the LGBTQ community and religious minorities. Sharing her profound personal experiences surrounding the two times she was held as a political prisoner, her extensive activism work, and her perspectives on the current situation in Iran, Mahbobi opened a fruitful exchange with students.
Mahbobi’s activism started at the age of twelve after the regime shut down the schools, and relatives and members of her community began to be arrested and executed in her hometown in the region of Kurdistan. As a woman, the activist stated that standing up and fighting for a free Iran was not an option. “As a human being, and particularly as a girl, I had the option to surrender or fight for my rights. In some way, there was a fire in me that gave me no other option but to accept it. I chose to fight because we had no other option,” Mahbobi stated.
Mahbobi was held as a political prisoner in the 80s, the decade following the Iranian Revolution, which was a crucial period that shaped the political future of Iran as an Islamic clerical regime that asserted its power through systematic repression, tortures, and mass executions of civilians who opposed the Islamic regime. Mahbobi described to the audience her memories of her first night in jail as a “nightmare” after a friend from school called her to warn her that they were coming for her. Mahbobi told the audience that the first thing she asked herself while she was put in a cell where women were not only held in deplorable physical conditions but also seemed to have reached mental insanity was: “How do I survive mentally in this place?” During the three years Mahbobi was held as a political prisoner, she was held in solitary confinement for more than seven months, which she describes as one of the most difficult challenges she has faced. The activist, who was only sixteen years old at the time of her imprisonment, remembers putting her things next to the door so if one of the guards came and raped her, at least she was not caught by surprise, and she would be able to react. Although she couldn’t point to a particular thing that helped her survive those conditions, she pointed to a memory that was a pivotal moment in her life: “I was in solitary confinement and one day, there were some prisoners who had children during their time in jail, and all of a sudden I heard a baby crying and that was the most beautiful thing. It connected me to life.”
Shibhangi Ghose, the equalities officer of the Cambridge Union interviewing Mahbobi, also discussed the relevance of the International Day of Action to support Political Prisoners in Iran. After years of campaigning, Mahbobi was able to get recognition of June 20 as the International day to commemorate and support the fight of Iranian political prisoners bringing essential stakeholders to the table, such as the European Parliament and governments of different European Countries, to discuss the role of the international community in ending with the Iranian regime. “The International community has the power to end the regime”, Mahbobi stated.
When the interviewer opened the floor, a student brought up the role of the general public in solving the current situation in Iran, where decades after the Revolution, women are still the target of human rights violations, torture, and systematic execution. Mahbobi stressed that the international community need to do more, and the public plays a crucial role in pressuring their governments to bring the regime to an end by shutting their embassies and retracting their international recognition. “What can I do? How can I pressure my government?” are the critical questions that the activist thinks citizens around the world need to ask to end human rights violations. Another student joined the conversation asking about her view of the current activist movement in Iran, to which Mahbobi responded, “I feel very optimistic because this is a women-led revolution. There is something special about the fact that this Revolution is women-led. Half of society has lived in the worst possible situation, and they stood up. And they are fighting, and they are leading. There is something very powerful about this.”
The event ended with a student asking for advice for young people who want to become political activists but fear the risks. Mahbobi highlighted that “activism is a choice,” but there’s no other option when injustice is at the front. As the first event with an internationally recognized political activist, the conversation opened spaces to think about the long road ahead that we have as individuals and as an international community to continue fighting for a world where individuals can live freely and safely, independently of their gender, religious identities, ethnicity, or nationality.
Gretel is an MPhil in Development Studies student at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. She was a 2020 Watson Fellow, developing an international journalism project across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Edited by Neelkabir Varsha Kapil.
