According to her family, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was assaulted and taken into custody in Iran on Friday as she spoke to a gathering in Mashhad.
“If they plan to harm her, I cannot foresee any good result,” her brother Hamid Reza Mohammadi told TIME from Oslo. “My greatest worry is her health.”
The 53-year-old Mohammadi has spent the past year on medical leave from an Iranian prison. During this period, she continued the activism that earned her the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, campaigning through interviews and small meetings for women’s rights, the freedom of political prisoners, and a non-violent shift from Iran’s harsh regime to a democratic system.
Friday marked her first public address since being granted furlough.
Mohammadi had journeyed from Tehran to Mashhad to attend a memorial service for human rights attorney Khosrow Alikordi, who died under suspicious circumstances earlier this month. Footage shared on social media shows her standing on a car after the service, speaking to mourners outside a mosque.
“It was a memorial for a lawyer who was found dead under questionable circumstances,” her brother Hamid Reza stated, citing an eyewitness. “The mosque was surrounded by numerous intelligence police and various military forces. They then assaulted people, beating many of them on the head.”
Hamid Reza reported that security agents dragged his sister through the crowd and pushed her into a car, grabbing her by her hair—which she had left uncovered in defiance of the mandatory headscarf law. Other activists detained alongside her, according to the Paris-based foundation, included Sepideh Qolian, Pouran Nazemi, Hasti Amiri, and Aliyeh Motalebzadeh. The foundation added that published reports listed Asadollah Fakhimi, Akbar Amini, Hasan Bagherinia, and Abolfazl Abri as also arrested.
Prior to being overwhelmed by security forces, Mohammadi was leading chants of “Majidreza Rahnavard,” a 23-year-old who was executed by hanging from a crane in Mashhad exactly three years prior. He was convicted in what Amnesty International called an unfair trial for his involvement in the prolonged protests triggered by the custodial death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, who was detained for allegedly wearing an “improper hijab.”
“Some people at the event were chanting against the government, saying it would be the regime’s final year,” said Hamid Reza Mohammadi. “Narges also desires change in Iran, but through peaceful means. She was not inciting violence. However, people have a right to voice their discontent.”
Mohammadi has a record of heart attacks and was released on medical grounds in December 2024 to recuperate from an operation to remove a bone lesion. Her initial home leave was meant to last just 21 days but was continually prolonged by Iranian officials. Found guilty on various charges, such as “spreading propaganda against the state,” she could still be compelled to serve the remaining 10 years of her official sentence.
Iran also possesses a record of eliminating notable activists through other methods. In July, the Nobel Committee released a statement voicing alarm over “ongoing threats,” and cited the laureate as saying, “I have been directly and indirectly threatened with ‘physical elimination’ by agents of the regime.”
