IRAN’S brutal morality police has sentenced a Nobel Peace Prize laureate to seven more years in prison for starting a hunger strike in custody.
Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, 53, was serving a 14-year sentence after being arrested in December after speaking out against the government at a funeral ceremony.
Nobel Peace Price laureate Narges Mohammadi has been given more jail timeCredit: AFP
Mohammadi was awarded the prize while in custody. The Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen left presented the award to Kiana Rahmani and Ali Rahmani on behalf of their mother in 2023Credit: AFP
Her supporters say she began a hunger strike on February 2 to protest the conditions of her imprisonment and the inability to make phone calls to lawyers and family.
She ended the strike on Sunday after six days, but is apparently in “deteriorating health”.
Authorities have now handed the campaigner, won the peace prize in 2023 while in custody, a fresh prison sentence.
Her foundation confirmed she was sentenced on Saturday to six years in prison on charges of harming national security and was also given a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for “propaganda” against Iran’s Islamic system.
It comes as the tyrannical regime crackdowns on pro-democracy demos which have
has repeatedly threatened military action on , but has warned a US attack on his regime would spark a war in the Middle East.
has sent warships, including the nuclear-powered , to the Arabian Sea amid rising tensions.
Speaking on board , he said “serious” talks were ongoing with leadership.
He warned the : “Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters.”
Mohammadi was re-arrested before protests erupted nationwide later in December.
She had been out of prison since December 2024 after being furloughed over medical concerns.
The movement peaked in January as authorities launched a crackdown that activists say has left thousands dead.
The statement said that in a gesture of defiance, Mohammadi did not offer any defence or make any statement after being taken before judges and swiftly sentenced.
It also stated that her “physical condition is deeply alarming” and was transferred to the hospital just three days ago “due to her deteriorating health”.
Since ending the hunger strike, she was returned to the Ministry of Intelligence’s security detention centre in Mashhad before completing her treatment, the foundation said.
“Her continued detention is life threatening and a violation of human rights laws.”
Her Paris-based husband Taghi Rahmani said in a statement: “Narges offered no defence, steadfast in her belief that this judiciary holds no legitimacy. She views these proceedings as a mere charade with a predetermined end”.
Her Iranian lawyer Mostafa Nili said other punishments included being exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan.
Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently, but her foundation said even taking this into account she faces “more than 17 years of active imprisonment, in addition to the 154 lashes carried over from her previous sentences”.
Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.
Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015.
Her daughter Kiana said: “I am gravely concerned for my mom. She, along with all political prisoners in Iran, must be released immediately.”
Mohammadi strongly backed the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
She has also regularly predicted the downfall of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian authorities have arrested more than 50,000 people as part of their crackdown on protests, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi has also received a two-year ban on leaving the countryCredit: AP
Iranian peace activist Narges Mohammadi has been in and out of prison in Iran for many years for standing up for women’s rightsCredit: AFP
Eze Chidiebere Paul
I'm dedicated to creating high-quality content that informs, inspires, and delights. If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch. Happy reading!
