Iranian authorities have delivered another severe blow to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, handing her a fresh prison sentence. This new term arrives even before she has completed her previous one, as confirmed by her family and legal team on Sunday.
The Narges Foundation, advocating for Ms. Mohammadi and her vital work, announced that she ended a six-day hunger strike on Sunday. She had undertaken the strike to protest what she maintains is her illegal detention, and the France-based foundation voiced grave concerns regarding her declining health.
Just one day prior, Ms. Mohammadi, at 53 years old, faced a new trial. She was subsequently sentenced to an additional seven and a half years in prison, accused of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic Regime.” This latest ruling dramatically increases her total time behind bars to 17 years, as confirmed by Chirinne Ardakani, a human rights lawyer working with the foundation.
Recognized as one of Iran’s foremost civil rights activists, Ms. Mohammadi has endured repeated imprisonments over the last decade. Her relentless activism has targeted Iran’s death penalty, its mandatory hijab laws, and the use of solitary confinement within its penal system.
In 2023, Ms. Mohammadi was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. She received this prestigious award while still imprisoned, serving a prior 10-year sentence in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
In 2024, Ms. Mohammadi was granted a medical furlough from her sentence to receive treatment for various health issues. However, her freedom was short-lived; she was arrested again in late December while attending a memorial for a prominent human rights lawyer in Mashhad, a city in northeastern Iran. Her recent sentencing stems from actions taken during this period of medical leave.
Following her arrest, Ms. Mohammadi informed her family that she had been severely beaten, necessitating a brief hospitalization. In a further act of defiance, she began a hunger strike in early February to protest her ongoing detention and the denial of adequate medical attention.
The foundation reported that she ended her six-day strike on Sunday, having been hospitalized due to rapidly worsening health. After being denied communication with her family or legal counsel since December 14, Ms. Mohammadi was permitted a short conversation with her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, on Sunday.
On social media, Mr. Nili disclosed that beyond the new prison sentence, the court also imposed a two-year travel ban, preventing her from leaving Iran. Furthermore, Ms. Mohammadi has been ordered to serve two years in “internal exile” in Khusf, a city in southeastern Iran, located over 450 miles from her home in the capital, Tehran.
Ms. Ardakani, the human rights lawyer, characterized Ms. Mohammadi’s trial as unjust, highlighting that it occurred amidst a sweeping crackdown following widespread protests across Iran.
“In an era of rampant repression,” she stated, “the Iranian regime, accountable for crimes against humanity, relentlessly pursues and persecutes all voices of dissent, Narges Mohammadi among them.”