Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi ‘violently detained’ at memorial for lifeless human rights lawyer | EUROtoday

Iran has arrested Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, her supporters mentioned on Friday.

A basis in her title mentioned she was detained at a memorial for a human rights lawyer just lately discovered lifeless beneath disputed circumstances.

There was no speedy remark from Iran over its detention of Mohammadi, 53. It wasn’t clear if authorities would instantly return her to jail to serve the remainder of her time period.

Her supporters on Friday described her as having been “violently detained earlier today by security and police forces”. They mentioned different activists had been arrested as properly at a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who had been primarily based in Mashhad.

“The Narges Foundation calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained individuals who were attending a memorial ceremony to pay their respects and demonstrate solidarity,” an announcement learn. “Their arrest constitutes a serious violation of fundamental freedoms.”

Alikordi was discovered lifeless earlier this month in his workplace, with officers in Razavi Khorasan describing his dying as a coronary heart assault. However, a tightening safety crackdown coincided together with his dying, elevating questions. Over 80 legal professionals signed an announcement demanding extra info.

“Alikordi was a prominent figure among Iran’s community of human rights defenders,” the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran mentioned Thursday. “Over the past several years, he had been repeatedly arrested, harassed and threatened by security and judicial forces.”

Footage purportedly of the ceremony confirmed Mohammadi on a microphone, calling out to the group gathered with out sporting a hijab, or headband. She began the group chanting the title Majidreza Rahnavard, a person whom authorities hanged from a crane in a public execution in 2022.

Supporters had warned for months that Mohammadi was prone to being put again into jail after she obtained a furlough in December 2024 over medical considerations.

While that was to be solely three weeks, Mohammadi’s day trip of jail lengthened, presumably as activists and Western powers pushed Iran to maintain her free. She remained out even throughout the 12-day struggle in June between Iran and Israel.

Mohammadi nonetheless stored up her activism with public protests and worldwide media appearances, together with even demonstrating at one level in entrance of Tehran’s infamous Evin jail, the place she had been held.

Mohammadi had been serving 13 years and 9 months on expenses of collusion in opposition to state safety and propaganda in opposition to Iran’s authorities. She additionally had backed the nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 dying of Mahsa Amini, which have seen girls brazenly defy the federal government by not sporting the hijab.

Mohammadi suffered a number of coronary heart assaults whereas imprisoned earlier than present process emergency surgical procedure in 2022, her supporters say. Her lawyer in late 2024 revealed docs had discovered a bone lesion that they feared may very well be cancerous that later was eliminated.

“Mohammadi’s doctors recently prescribed an extension of her medical leave for at least six more months to conduct thorough and regular medical examinations, including monitoring the bone lesion which was removed from her leg in November, physiotherapy sessions to recover from the surgery and specialised cardiac care,” the Free Narges Coalition mentioned in late February 2025.

“The medical team overseeing Mohammadi’s health has warned that her return to prison – especially under stressful conditions of detention and without adequate medical facilities – could severely worsen her physical well-being.”

An engineer by coaching, Mohammadi has been imprisoned 13 instances and convicted 5. In complete, she has been sentenced to over 30 years in jail. Her final incarceration started when she was detained in 2021 after attending a memorial for an individual killed in nationwide protests.