Iran activist uses art in quest for change After two years in prison for protesting against rigged elections, Hengameh Shahidi, an Iranian journalist and human rights activist, picked up a paintbrush for the first time. Freed from the notorious Evin prison - where she had been held in solitary confinement and allegedly tortured - art offered her a release. "I still do not understand how a violent atmosphere has woken up a delicate part of me," she says. IN Iran Now she hopes her paintings will help raise awareness about the plight of 200 or so political prisoners still in Iranian jails, many of them forgotten or ignored by a population afraid to speak out. Weary of political protest that seems to achieve little, she says art can help bring about social change in the "bigger jail than Evin, which is Iran." Ms Shahidi, 37, was one of hundreds imprisoned for fomenting unrest during protests after the disputed 2009 presidential election. More than 100 people were killed in the biggest protests yet against the Islamic regime. Activists fear that this year's June election to choose Mr Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad's successor may also be violent. Ms Shahidi was sentenced to six years in jail for backing the opposition Green movement, which said the 2009 election was rigged. Two years later, she was released on health grounds because of an injury to her spinal cord - allegedly caused during detention. Tehran denies that torture takes place in its prisons. On Friday, an exhibition of her work opened in Shokouh gallery in northeast Tehran. Her paintings reflect her desire for peace and freedom. One draws a prisoner's hand stretching out of the iron bars of the prison cell's window giving an olive branch to a pigeon. In another painting, an unarmed person presses a finger into the mouth of a gun. "I started my paintings with a dream of freedom and . . . an atmosphere in which there is no fighting because both sides [the regime and the opposition] have been losers," she says. Clad in a top-to-toe black chador - strict Islamic dress - from under which her turquoise scarf and crisp white shirt peek out, Ms Shahidi says she has almost recovered from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the four months spent in solitary confinement, and alleged torture. Her interrogators tried to get her to admit she had an affair with leading politicians, such as Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami, former reformist president, scandalous and dangerous claims in a country as conservative as Iran. Little is done to help political prisoners, she said. The threats of execution, detention or exclusion from university education have deterred many from voicing their concern. Economic hardships, with inflation reaching 26 per cent as international sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme take hold, have also overshadowed the plight of the prisoners. Recent news of hunger strikes and the suspicious death of Sattar Beheshti - a 35-year-old blogger who died in jail amid the opposition allegations that he was tortured to death - have hardly stirred ordinary Iranians. Lasting political change could only be brought about through a cultural shift, such as greater awareness of individual rights, Ms Shahidi said. "Iranian people are not familiar with their legal and social rights, which makes them retreat under pressure and leave intellectuals alone to [face the] high costs [of protests]," she said. Of more immediate concern to Ms Shahidi, a divorced mother of a 17-year-old girl, is her health. Brutal beatings have left her in need of surgery. If she does not receive treatment abroad, she fears she may end up in a wheelchair, but she is forbidden from leaving the country. Each month, Ms Shahidi must attend court to have her medical leave confirmed. If the judiciary refuses to renew it, she may have to rejoin about 30 political prisoners in Evin's ward for women. Conditions are basic, the ward is made up of 20 bunk beds, one kitchen, three toilets and a shower. But she will have high-profile company. The prisoners include Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent lawyer for women's rights, Faezeh Hashemi, a daughter of former conservative president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and members of Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, an exiled opposition group. Still, Ms Shahidi wants to fight for a democratic Iran. If the regime one day decides to let reformists come back to the political scene - which I doubt would happen in the coming years - I will be active again even if I am imprisoned again.