Gendered Violence and Biopolitics in White Torture: A Critical Reflection on Human Rights Violations in Iran’s Prisons

This paper explores the intersection of gendered violence, biopolitics, and human rights violations against women prisoners in Iran, as documented in Narges Mohammadi’s White Torture. The study argues that the Iranian state uses gender-targeted psychological torture as a tool of political repression, exerting control over both the bodies and agency of women detainees. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics and Giorgio Agamben’s notion of “bare life,” the paper examines how state power erases women’s identities and silences their voices within the prison system. Furthermore, human rights frameworks are used to demonstrate how these acts of violence represent severe human rights violations, especially toward women, by employing isolation and psychological abuse as tools of dehumanization. This reflection on White Torture makes a significant contribution by drawing the attention of international human rights agencies to these abuses, emphasizing the urgent need to advocate for the protection and dignity of women political prisoners.

Keywords: Gendered violence, biopolitics, human rights, Iranian prisons, political repression