Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was reportedly taken to the hospital twice after being violently arrested last week in Iran, her supporters said Monday, following a phone call that raised serious concerns about her health, according to the AFP news agency.
Mohammadi, who received the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, was detained Friday after speaking at a memorial ceremony in Mashhad for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, found dead earlier this month.
According to Iranian civil society activists, including award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Mohammadi and others arrested at the ceremony should be released “immediately and unconditionally.”
Her foundation said there had been no information about her whereabouts until late Sunday when she made a “short and compressed” phone call to her family.
In the call, Mohammadi described how she “was attacked by plain clothed agents with severe and repeated baton blows to the head and neck and was then violently arrested.”
“Narges Mohammadi said in the call that the intensity of the blows was so heavy, forceful, and repeated that she was taken to the hospital emergency room twice,” the foundation said, adding that she “appeared unwell” and “her physical condition was not good.”
Her brother Hamid Mohammadi, speaking to AFP from Norway, said that Narges had told another brother in Iran she was hit “brutally” on the head and face and “as a result had been taken to be checked by a physician.” He added, “She’s not hospitalised and is still in detention.”
During her call, Mohammadi asked her family to “immediately and without delay file a formal complaint against the detaining security body and the violent manner of her arrest.”
Her foundation added that she did not know “which security authority is currently detaining her,” and said she was accused of “cooperating with the Israeli government.” Iranian officials have not confirmed any charges.
Mohammadi had been serving a sentence of 13 years and nine months on charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against the government. Mohammadi also supported the nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which saw women openly defy the regime by refusing to wear the hijab.
Her health has been a major concern. Supporters say she suffered multiple heart attacks while imprisoned before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022. In late 2024, her lawyer revealed doctors had discovered a bone lesion feared to be cancerous, which was later removed.
Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammadi, claiming the move was biased and amounted to a “politicization” of the prize.