IRANIAN SECURITY FORCES “VIOLENTLY” ARREST NOBEL LAUREATE NARGES MOHAMMADI, EIGHT OTHERS AT MEMORIAL EVENT
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Iranian security forces have “violently” arrested 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi along with at least eight other activists during a memorial ceremony for a prominent lawyer in the city of Mashhad, her supporters announced on Friday.
Mohammadi, who has been on temporary medical leave from prison since December 2024, was detained while attending a ceremony held in honour of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office on December 5 under circumstances rights groups have described as suspicious.
According to a statement posted on X by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation, the 53-year-old activist was arrested alongside fellow campaigner Sepideh Gholian and six others. Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, based in Paris, also confirmed the arrests, while the Hengaw rights group reported that the detainees were “violently detained and transferred to an undisclosed location.”
Speaking to AFP from Oslo, Mohammadi’s brother, Hamid Mohammadi, alleged that security operatives beat her on the legs and dragged her by the hair during the arrest.
Alikordi, 45, had represented clients detained during the government’s crackdown on nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. Rights groups, including Iran Human Rights, have demanded an investigation into his death, citing “serious suspicion of a state murder.”
Footage shared by HRANA showed Mohammadi attending the memorial without a compulsory headscarf, standing among supporters chanting slogans such as “Long live Iran,” “We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation,” and “Death to the dictator.” Additional videos aired by Persian-language stations outside Iran captured her addressing the crowd with a microphone atop a vehicle.
Mohammadi has been repeatedly jailed over the past decade for her activism. She has not seen her twin children in 11 years and is permanently barred from leaving Iran. Despite chronic health challenges affecting her lungs and heart her brother says she remains defiant but fears her health may deteriorate further under renewed detention.
Awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her defence of human rights and her role in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Mohammadi has openly criticised Iran’s clerical establishment and predicted its eventual collapse. She continued her advocacy even outside prison, refusing to wear the hijab and addressing international audiences via video link.
In a recent message marking her children’s 19th birthday, she wrote that although authorities had labelled her travel ban “permanent,” the government itself “lives each day in fear of the fall that will inevitably come at the hands of the people of Iran.”
Her latest arrest has once again drawn international attention to Iran’s ongoing repression of dissidents and the enduring risks faced by human rights defenders in the country.
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