« Based on the analysis of testimonies from former prisoners and the last wills and testaments of those who were tortured, Chahla Chafiq’s book is a document of paramount importance for understanding the origins, means, and objectives of this totalitarian project. » — Librairie des Femmes

After 45 years of rule, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a huge laboratory for analyzing Islamism. In this regard, the political prison of the 1980s, during the establishment of the regime, is an essential workshop. A place where doctrinal teachings were ruthlessly enforced, its purpose was to subdue rebels and mold them according to the Islamists’ ideal vision. It was a model that revealed a profound demonization of women.

Chahla Chafiq, a sociologist and writer of Iranian origin, takes us into this prison world, which crystallizes the very essence of Islamism, through the stories of political prisoners. She shows us how the appalling fate of female and male prisoners is part of a wider system of repression implemented by the Islamic Republic.

Reading this book, we understand the central role of terror in the Islamic Republic’s sociopolitical project, while discovering the resistance of Iranian men and women generation after generation. This struggle has been constantly renewed over time, in various forms, and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement represents its revolutionary peak.

Chahla Chafiq was born and raised in Iran. After actively participating in the Iranian Revolution of 1979, she was forced into exile due to political repression by the Islamic Republic, and has lived in France since 1982. Her thesis on political Islam was published by PUF under the title “Political Islam, Sex, and Gender: In Light of the Iranian Experience” (2011). She is also the author of numerous essays and several works of fiction and poetry.