1981-1988: Prisons and the Unyielding Struggle
This decade stands as the bloodiest chapter in Iranian history—a time when Khomeini’s merciless killing apparatus knew no bounds. Female political prisoners including children, young girls, pregnant women, 70-year-old mothers, workers, farmers, doctors, engineers, artists, and athletes—all fell prey to the execution squads. Families were shattered, losing their loved ones.
Under clerical rule, women’s rights were deemed half of men’s, yet the torment and violence inflicted upon them were doubly cruel. The misogynistic clerics brooked no dissent from women who dared oppose their regime.
Among the victims was Nafiseh Ashraf Jahani, a 10-year-old girl sentenced to death in a summary trial and executed in 1981. Other brave young girls—Maryam Asadi (11), Afsaneh Farabi (12), Fatemeh Mesbah, Shahla Ghorbani, Fatemeh Sajedi, Fatemeh Jabbarzadeh Ansari (all 13), and Nasrin Nouri Mani (15)—also met tragic fates at Khomeini’s hands.
Dozens of elderly mothers, including 70-year-old Mother Zakeri, joined this grim procession of resistance, becoming the pride of Iran’s history.
Yet, within prison walls, female political prisoners faced even greater suffering. Their rights were halved, but their torture doubled. Tahereh Aghakhan Moghaddam, eight months pregnant, met her end by firing squad—one of 50 pregnant women whose names are etched in sorrow.
Remarkably, these female political prisoners inspired awe. Their unwavering resolve, witnessed by hundreds of fellow inmates, stirred imprisoned men as well. The clerics, threatened by the indomitable spirit of PMOI women, unleashed every brutality imaginable.
In the depths of Gohardasht Prison, long-term solitary confinement and torture chambers—the “Coffin,” “Cage,” and “Residential Units”—were designed to break female political prisoners’ spirits.
The brave women of Iran faced a singular choice: the ideal of freedom. They couldn’t foresee the unimaginable suffering ahead, but their unwavering commitment remained unshaken. They paid the price for liberty and equality with everything they had.
