Iran Nobel laureate taken to hospital after ‘violent arrest’
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammedi was hospitalized after being beaten when she was arrested last week, her family said.
The 53-year-old human rights defender said in a phone interview Sunday that she was brought to the emergency room twice after being “assaulted by plainclothes agents with violent and repeated baton blows to her head and neck.” According to Narges Foundation.
There was no comment from Iranian officials, but it was stated that he was detained for saying “provocative words” at the commemoration ceremony held in the city of Mashhad on Friday.
Those calling for his release include the Nobel Committee and award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi.
Ms. Mohammadi, vice president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against the oppression of women in Iran and in defense of human rights.
He spent more than 10 years of his life in prison. He has been serving a 13-year prison sentence since 2021, which he rejected, on charges of “propaganda activity against the state” and “collusion against state security”.
He was temporarily released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on medical grounds in December 2024.
He continued the campaign while receiving treatment.
On Friday, he spoke at a memorial service in Mashhad for human rights activist and lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead earlier this month in what human rights groups described as “suspicious” circumstances.
According to the Narges Foundation, eyewitnesses cited by Muhammadi’s family said they saw her attacked by approximately 15 plainclothes agents at the memorial, some of whom pulled her hair and beat her with sticks and truncheons.
The statement said that on Sunday evening, Ms. Mohammadi had a brief telephone conversation with her family and told them that “the intensity of the blows was so heavy and severe that she was taken to the hospital emergency room twice.”
In the statement, the statement said, “He emphasized that he did not even know which security official had detained him at the moment and that no statement had been made on this matter. He was not in a good physical condition and looked uncomfortable during the interview.”
The Narges Foundation reported that Ms. Mohammadi was accused of “collaborating with the Israeli government” and that they had threatened her with death, saying “We will mourn your mother.”
The statement stated that two other activists, Sepideh Gholian and Pouran Nazemi, who were detained at the commemoration ceremony, were also beaten by plainclothes agents.
Mashhad prosecutor Hasan Hematifar told reporters on Saturday that Ms. Mohammadi was among the 39 people arrested.
He said that he and Khosrow Alikordi’s brother, Javad, encouraged those present to “shout norm-breaking slogans” and “disturb the peace.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement on Friday that it was deeply concerned by what it called the “brutal detention” of Ms. Mohammedi and called on Iranian authorities to “ensure her safety and integrity and release her unconditionally.”
Jafar Panahi, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and more than a dozen activists said in a joint statement: He said what happened at Alikordi’s memorial was “a stark reflection of the alarming state of freedom and security and thus the inefficiency and lack of accountability of authorities in today’s Iran.”
