Iran arrest Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi
Iran has detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammedi, her supporters say.
A foundation set up in his name said he was detained at a memorial ceremony held Friday in memory of a human rights lawyer who was found dead under controversial circumstances.
There was no statement from Iran regarding the detention of 53-year-old Mohammadi. It was unclear whether authorities would immediately send him back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.
On Friday, his supporters said he was “violently detained by security and police forces earlier today.”
They said other activists were also arrested at a ceremony held in honor of Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights defender living in Mashhad.
“The Narges Foundation calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained persons who attended the commemoration ceremony to pay their respects and show solidarity,” the statement said.
“Their detention is a serious violation of fundamental freedoms.”
Alikordi was found dead in his office earlier this month, and authorities in Razavi Khorasan described his death as a heart attack. However, the strict security measures that coincided with his death raised questions. More than 80 lawyers signed a petition demanding more information.
“Alikordi was a prominent figure among Iran’s community of human rights defenders,” the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said in a statement Thursday. he said.
“He has been repeatedly arrested, harassed and threatened by security and judicial forces over the past few years.”
Footage purportedly from the ceremony shows Muhammadi addressing the gathered crowd with a microphone without wearing a headscarf or headscarf. He began chanting to the crowd the name of Majidreza Rahnavard, whom authorities hanged by crane in a public execution in 2022.
Supporters had warned for months that Muhammadi was at risk of being jailed again after he was placed on leave due to medical concerns in December 2024.
Although it was only supposed to last three weeks, Mohammedi’s time out of prison was likely extended as activists and Western powers pressured Iran to release him. He even stayed out during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
Mohammadi continued his activism through public protests and international media coverage; At one point he even demonstrated outside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where he was held.
Mohammedi was imprisoned for 13 years and nine months on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against the Iranian government.
She had also supported the nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022, where women openly defied the government by not wearing hijab.
