Surviving Evin Exhibition and Talk
Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/11/2026 - 17/11/2026
11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location
All Saints Parish Church, Leamington
Categories
From 4 to 17 November, Mid-Warwickshire Amnesty will be hosting a powerful exhibition in All Saints Parish Church, Leamington, entitled Surviving Evin. It will lay bare the experience of British national Anoosheh Ashoori, who was arbitrarily jailed in Iran’s Evin Prison for four-and-a-half years until his release – alongside Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – in March 2022.
In addition, from 18:00 to 19:00 on 4 November, Anoosheh will be present in the Church to talk about his experiences and answer any questions. The Ukrainian cafe at the back of the Church will be open from 5 pm to 8 pm for delicious refreshments.
The Exhibition
The exhibition, devised by Ashoori with the support of Amnesty International UK, will recreate the emotional and physical reality of his detention.
“This moving exhibition is designed to take visitors through the years he spent in prison, from his arrest by Iranian intelligence officers and his first interrogations, time spent in solitary confinement, daily life with other inmates, the impact of his family’s campaigning back home and his life after release,” Amnesty International says.
The exhibition features reconstruction of Anoosheh’s arrest, the crowded conditions in cockroach- and bedbug-infested communal cells, and how the the hope of running the London Marathon after his release helped him cope with his time in jail.
“This exhibition aims to provide a deep insight into the challenges and triumphs I encountered during the 1,677 days of captivity, as well as life after my release,” Ashoori said. “I think the exhibition is a testament to the ability of the human spirit to endure, to find hope amid despair, to face adversity and to emerge stronger. I hope it reminds everyone who visits of the importance of empathy, understanding and solidarity in our shared humanity.”
Evin Prison
Evin Prison has become a symbol of the Islamic Republic’s apparatus of repression, silencing dissent through fear, violence, and psychological terror.
Located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran, Iran, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution it has become the Islamic Republic’s most infamous detention facility. It serves as the primary site for incarcerating political prisoners, journalists, academics, human rights activists, dual nationals, and foreign citizens accused of espionage or propaganda offenses.