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Iranian security forces detained 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi on Friday, along with at least eight other activists during an event that the Norwegian Nobel Committee strongly condemned as “brutal.” Mohammadi, who had been granted a temporary leave from prison in December 2024, was taken into custody alongside eight other activists at a memorial service for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, whose body was discovered in his office last week, according to her foundation’s statement on X.
Among those arrested was prominent activist Sepideh Gholian, a former prisoner who had previously been jailed with Mohammadi in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Her foundation emphasized that these individuals attended solely to honor Alikordi and show solidarity, condemning the arrests as a gross violation of fundamental freedoms and human rights. Hamid Mohammadi, Narges’s brother, recounted to AFP in Oslo that she was physically assaulted—beaten on her legs, grabbed by her hair, and dragged away.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed deep concern over the “brutal” detention, calling on Iran to promptly disclose Mohammadi’s whereabouts. This arrest occurred just two days after the Nobel ceremony in Oslo honoring Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a vocal critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is allied with Iran. The Nobel committee noted the timing suggests a connection, given the close cooperation between Iran and Venezuela.
Iran’s Mehr news agency cited Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini, stating the detainees were arrested for chanting slogans deemed incompatible with public norms during the ceremony, though no specific names were provided. The event in Mashhad marked the seven-day anniversary of Alikordi’s death, which rights groups suspect may have been a state killing, given his role defending activists involved in protests that erupted across Iran in 2022.
Footage posted by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) shows Mohammadi participating in the memorial, visibly not wearing the obligatory headscarf, amid the crowd. Protesters at the event chanted slogans such as “Long live Iran,” “We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation,” and “Death to the dictator.” Outside Iran, televised footage depicted Mohammadi standing atop a vehicle with a microphone, urging others to chant along.
Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, condemned the suppression, emphasizing that peaceful mourning is met with violence, showcasing the government’s fear of truth and accountability. Mohammadi, 53, who was last incarcerated in November 2021, has spent much of the last decade behind bars. Her two twin children, who were awarded the Nobel in her stead in 2023, have not seen her in over 11 years. Her brief release was granted on health grounds, citing lung and other health issues.
Her brother Hamid expressed concern that constant detention and physical stress threaten her health and noted her ongoing criticism of Iran’s clerical regime, which has been in power since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In a recent message on her twins’ 19th birthday, Mohammadi suggested that the government lives day-to-day in fear of the people’s eventual uprising.
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