 Welcome back to the World Economic Forum and this next session, which will be very special and we are very happy to have this opportunity. This is a session that will be a conversation, when we're going to be discussing women's rights in Iran for the next 30 minutes. In light of the Nobel Prize awarded to the imprisoned Nagas Muhammadi in late 2023, we have here with us her husband, the journalist and activist Agir Ahmani, and we're going to be discussing the future for Iranian women movement in 2024. I want to give you a little bit more information because this conversation will be very different and very special. Agir Ahmani is a former political prisoner. He spent 14 years in jail. This is the longest for Iranian journalists. He is a censored journalist who's been fighting ever since and not stopping. He's now based in Paris with the family and we also have this great luck here to have with us the lawyer representing the family and a family friend, Shirin Ardakani, who is on stage and Shirin will be helping us with the translation. This will not be the simultaneous translation. This will be consecutive translation. We will be taking some pause in our time also to understand and Shirin would help us to facilitate this conversation and to make sure that it works at the best possible way because this is the subject where we want to take our time and also focus on the importance of it. Thank you so very much for being. Thank you. Let me ask you for the first question. Following the events of 2022 and 2023, what is the current status of the women's life freedom movement today? First of all, I'm really glad to be here and many thanks for this very great invitation. And this is a very important question women rise in Iran and I will take my time to explain this. You know the political system in Iran is built on discrimination. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran justifies discrimination which includes class oppression, cultural and religious and gender based discrimination against women and I will focus on the issue of women especially. This is a country where the number of female university students surpasses that of males and approximately three million women are the breadwinner of head of household. So the women have a strong social and economic presence everywhere in the Iranian society and have fought to demonstrate their capabilities at every level of society. Yet the Islamic Republic imposes a set of wide ranging discriminatory written and unwritten rules against Iranian women. Much of it are the host of hidden bases and in many other cases an open wafer against them. As I mentioned it starts from the discrimination that is in the constitution of Iran and in the Islamic penal code. So that's it's the main issue of Iranian female is the Islamic law actually. The women are sensitive to their religious nature and when it comes to nature they have to establish a law. But for the Islamic Republic there is a set of rules against women and The very presence of women in public and private sectors in cultural and social spheres is a real challenge to this system of gender-based operation. In response to this presence, governments insist on stricter enforcement of their Islamic law, leading to hostility against women in every aspect of their life, their daily life. The leadership of the regime considers gender equality as an affront to his rules and thus openly promote gender-based injustice and has codified in their own daily laws. But Iranian women are restricted from pursuing certain academics, fields and professions. The Iranian women are not allowed to work. For example, the president of DAADGA is not allowed to work. The Iranian women are not allowed to be a member of the House of Representatives, Foreign Minister, Minister of Justice, or the president of the National Assembly. They have the impression that they are allowed to work, but they are not allowed to work But they cannot be a legal person, unlike me, to be a worker. They cannot be a candidate to become a member of the parliament. They cannot be a candidate in the election of the secretaries of the parliament, which has a lot of power. They cannot be a member of the parliament. They cannot be a candidate of the secretaries of the system. Iranian women are restricted from every aspect, professional aspect. They are effectively barred from being a judge. They cannot be a judge. They cannot become governors. A pointing from a cabinet minister has been met with a fair use backlash by regime loyalists. The closest regime has allowed more women to play a role in executive branch of ministry, cabinet ministry, but it's not possible now for an Iranian woman to be judge and some of the professions are completely proven for them. But a woman is very important compared to this party. We said that the Islamic Republic has been ruled by a rule of law. That means that women have a lot of respect for the party. But this is because of the women's resistance, and the resistance of the society and the resistance of the Islamic Republic. That means that the other parties will fight against the resistance. We are a third party. Without the daily reminder of the presence and power of the totalitarian system on women by the obligatory and compulsory hijab. Even now, the sheer number of women who on a daily basis risk, finds, rest, and are forced to fight against the women's resistance. Even now, the sheer number of women who on a daily basis risk, finds, rests, and wars has forced some of the clerical rulers to contemplate change to the implementation of Islamic penal laws, recognizing that the resistance of the whole woman of society, especially women, has created an irreversible shift in Iran. This change has led to a shift in the current regime of the Islamic Republic, even the June Revolutionary Government. That is what these women are all fighting against the women's resistance. And Iranian women are really hostile to this law, the law who install compulsory hijab. And this law aims to control society by attacking women's rights. Imposal control cannot be sustained solely through coercion. As women's and societal resistance has created some fractures in civil society. This rift will continue to widen with the as resistance by many men who support their sisters, their support women that continue his fight. This rift cannot be sustained solely through coercion. As women's resistance has created some fractures in civil society. This rift will continue to widen with the as resistance by many men who support their sisters. The global civil society and human rights organization can assist in this struggle and this is a duty. In particular, providing unrestricted access to information and about the struggle of Iranian women. But the global civil society can assist in this struggle and this is a duty. We, Iranians, need to have freedom and intelligence on the internet. We need to have freedom and intelligence on the internet. We need to have freedom and intelligence on the internet. The right to women in terms of the government of Iran and the right to the international state. How global civil society can help Iranian women in this fight? this fight. Providing unrestricted access to information and the freedom of internet for all Iranians is really crucial. Demanding that international organization to address the situation of women in Iran persistently is very essential. Women's rights should be a central part of world powers negotiation with the Iranian government and treated as an inseparable part of any agreement, be it economic or political. First, respect women's rights and after we can negotiate. This is really crucial, really important. This is really crucial, really important to put women's rights in the center of any discussion, any negotiation. Even diplomatic, even political, even economic agreement, economic meeting, it's important to have a crucial focus on women's rights in general and women's rights in particular. It's the start of every discussion everywhere. More efforts should be made for the freedom of female prisoner in Iran with a current focus on the worst of political prison in Iran, the evin prison woman's world which has turned into a center of women's resistance. And we all know that Nargis Mohammadi now is currently in the evin prisons but she's not the only political prisoner. She has a lot of activists with her, unfortunately. I'm so sorry to be long but it was really important for me to say what I would say and sorry about that. I would like to ask you with the recent events with the two journalists, Nilu Farhamedi and Elaher Mohammadi, they were recently temporarily released on bail after being imprisoned in Iran following their coverage, coverage only of the 2022 death of Mohamedi according to obviously the accusations that they've heard of themselves. Given these temporarily released now recently, what that means for the movement? Let's just recap the situation of these two journalists. These two journalists endured almost 17 months in prison for being journalists and nothing else. One reported on Masa Amini's hospitalization and after her death, sparking nationwide protests in Iran. The other, Nilu Farh, covered Masa's funeral facing months of interrogation, imprisonment and sham trials. They were recently released from evin prison on heavy bail, you mentioned it, around $200,000 but they are banned from leaving the country now. They are banned from leaving the country and are forced to go to the Iranian women's resistance and they are forced to leave the country and come back to the military. They are forced to leave the country and they are forced to leave the country for a week without going back to the country. This shows that even in our society, in every day my resistance, in the resistance of the hijab, is forced and the Sultan is forced to leave the country. But the most important is photos of them, these two journalists, when they have been released, a photo of them bravely refusing the compulsory hijab upon leaving the prison. And this photo has been viral. The judiciary reacted very furiously, actually, adding new charges on them and demanding their return to prison in a few days. So this is important to have this picture, this photo in mind. And you know, in the Iranian state of man and mentality, every activist and every journalist, every lawyer could be an enemy, an enemy of the Iran nation and to be charged on spying for USA, Israel, every enemy country. So everybody could, can one day be arrested just to have done his job, journalist, lawyer or everything. Your wife is the recent Nobel Prize winner. Can you briefly speak on how your wife's contributions have impacted women's rights in Iran? Even in the walls of prisons, that has continued to be a source of information and campaigns. They have also given to the political supporters of new programs that are trying to make a difference in Iran and Afghanistan. The movement of the political parties in the Iranian prisons has created a wave of violence. The protection of the rights of women, human rights, and equal rights in the society. The campaign is against the impoverished, against the impoverished cellulite. And this book, the book that was created in the same year that it was published, and this opposition to Eidam and Hijab-e-Ijbari, is a group of activities that was the original of Nargis Muhammad. You know, to be clear, my wife, Nargis Pahamadi, is first a humanitarian, a human rights activist. So that's why she is now in jail. She believes in equality for women, she believes in democracy, she believes in freedom of speech and freedom in general in Iran. But it's not allowed, it's something that can lead you in jail. Even within the confines of even prison, she continued addressing her statements, but not freely. I mean, it's clandestine. She continued to give some statements, campaigning, ending gender apartheid in Iran and in Afghanistan, stopping sexual harassment of women. Even if they are in jail, his cellmates, advocating for women rights, human rights and equality. And these campaigns against gender apartheid will continue, and not alone, with the female of even prison. And she led a campaign against solitary confinement and torture, psychological torture in Iranian jails, also known as white torture, as well as opposing to death penalty. And you know that in Iran, there is a lot of activists that every day are in jail, and after all, they are concerned by death penalty. And these are initiative of Nargis and all Iranian activists that are in jail now. Nargis is concerned about the totalitarianism of the civil society and the equality of the human being in every western state in Iran. He is confident that the human being should be in the first place, that is to say, in the real world, in all the western states in the world. Until Iran is under the control of the state. Nargis believes in strengthening the civil society and prioritizing human rights in any negotiation in Iran and both an international negotiation. She believes that human rights should come above all other matter in worldwide negotiation, and justice and social justice should rule in Iran, but more generally in the world. During the woman life freedom movement that takes place in Iran, Nargis was in jail, actually, but she stood with the people through her letter statement and she won the Nobel Peace Prize. It's right. But the most important is the solidarity and the sisterhood among female prisoners and more generally between Iranians and between women and men in Iran in this movement, Zanzendegi Azadi, which is woman life freedom. He said, because of the death of his army and the murder of many women and many men for freedom, I didn't prepare anything for this because I was forced to go to Mauritius. Because I didn't do this for a few days, I didn't take it. But they took it, and for the first time, they took it away from the women's prison without the hijab, they took it and took it back, and then they worked on these two reports. But there was a community that in that community said a few weeks ago, the world witnessed that the Islamic community was forced to go to Zanzendegi and the death of the army was killed. And Nargis, in fact, was forced to go to Zanzendegi and the death of Zanzendegi Azadi. They said it's possible, but only at one condition, if you accept to wear hijab. But she declined, of course, and she refused. And we were all worried about his health situation. But that is the way Nargis Mohamedi is fighting. And in a poignant statement, she declared on the same time, a few weeks ago, the world witnesses the Islamic Republic government subjecting protesting women to a distressing choice of forced hijab or deaths. And I choose, I choose neither forced hijab, and I don't want to be dead. But it's my duty to fight, to fight with my sister and with the others. Nargis has spent almost nine years of her life in prisons of the Islamic Republic. Nargis has spent almost nine years of her life in prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And she has almost 10 years more to spend in prison as every day they add to her new life. And she has spent almost 10 years in prison of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As every day they add to her new sentences. Since March 2028, Nargis Mohamedi has faced five convictions, three of them due to her activities inside prison, inside jail. Her total convictions amount to 12 years and three months of imprisonment. And 155 lashes and four months of travel ban from Iran, two years of exile, and various social and political prohibitions. I have seen Nargis for the last ten years. He was separated from Afghanistan at night. I came to him and he was very sad and had children. Now Nargis hasn't seen his children for nine years. And he hasn't seen his children for about two years. He can't talk on the phone. In the 2010s, more than 2000 prisoners of prison were arrested by their brothers and sisters in Tehran. And he hasn't been able to meet his brothers and sisters for eight thousand years with his brothers and sisters. The other ten women are involved in this matter and have become a part of the political prisoners of prison. Especially in women's prisons, but the resistance is also there. There are 61 political prisoners in prison who have been in prison for 70 years. Ten of them have been in prison for six years. Many of them are not allowed to meet each other and their phone calls with their families are forbidden. The government is against the resistance. But they are also against it. To conclude, because I need to conclude, I want to say that it had been a long time I have not seen my wife, 12 years actually. And it's been years since the last time I have met my wife, my children, Ali and Kiana. I haven't met their mother for eight years. They haven't heard her voice for almost two years because she cannot speak with the phone. And since the start of December, before the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the prison authorities cut her contact telephone completely with outside. Her visitation has been banned and she cannot call Evan her father in Iran. Communication has been much more difficult with her after she won the Nobel Peace Prize. But overall, the pressure has increased not only on Nargis Mohamedi, on all political prisoners in Iran and more especially about women's political prisoner alongside her, her cellmates also. And just to say four women are over 70 years old with alongside Nargis Mohamedi. And 10 of them, the political prisoners, the feme, are over 60, over 60. And many of them have been prohibited from making phone calls to their families. As prison authorities employ the tactic of cutting of phone and visitation privilege to any of their family outside. Outside. Mr. Mohamedi, I'm afraid I have to wrap this up now because unfortunately we don't have more time. But I also wanted to conclude from my side that the fight of yours, of your wife, has been taking such the heaviest possible toll on your family with the children not seeing the mother was you also not being able to communicate. And of course the consequences that are also being felt by her and other prisoners, especially after the Nobel Peace Prize. At the same time, it is good to have this conversation here with you in Davos with this audience, with the people who are here at the annual meeting. Because this fight is being seen and is being recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize with the European Parliament awarding the Sahara Prize to the Iranian women, it is being recognized. Thank you so much for being here and thank you so much for facilitating this conversation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.