TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have sentenced imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to a new prison term of seven and a half years, her foundation announced Monday.
The 53-year-old human rights activist, already incarcerated, was convicted on charges of “conspiracy to gather and attack national security,” carrying a six-year sentence, and “propaganda against the government,” adding another year and a half. The verdict also includes two years of internal exile in the remote city of Khosf and a two-year travel ban.
According to the Narges Foundation, Mohammadi informed her lawyer, Mustafa Nili, of the sentence during a brief phone call from prison on Saturday. This contact came after she was held in solitary confinement for several weeks with all communication severed. The activist had just ended a week-long hunger strike on Sunday.
The new case stems from her condemnation of the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Ali Kurdi in December. Prosecutors accused her of making “provocative statements” at a memorial ceremony in Mashhad and encouraging slogans that disrupted order.
Mohammadi, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while behind bars, has been a leading figure in Iran’s women’s rights movement for three decades, also campaigning against the death penalty. She is currently held in a prison in Mashhad. The Iranian foreign ministry has not commented on the latest sentencing, which underscores the ongoing crackdown on dissent within the country.
