ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a prominent women’s rights advocate and journalist, was arrested on Friday while attending a memorial for a human rights lawyer, according to her supporters.
“The Narges Foundation expresses deep concern following verified reports that Narges Mohammadi… was violently detained earlier today by security and police forces,” the foundation said in a statement on its website.
Mohammadi, 53, was arrested in the northeastern city of Mashhad while attending a memorial for Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian human rights lawyer who was found dead earlier this month under unclear circumstances.
Footage reportedly from the ceremony showed Mohammadi speaking into a microphone without wearing the mandatory hijab.
The statement added that “according to multiple reliable sources, several other well-known human rights activists including Sepideh Qolian, Hasti Amiri, Pouran Nazemi, and Alieh Motalebzadeh were also detained during the same incident.”
It called “for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained individuals who were attending a memorial ceremony,” saying their arrest “constitutes a serious violation of fundamental freedoms.”
Mohammadi has been arrested dozens of times over more than two decades of activism. She was detained in 2015 for campaigning against Iran’s use of the death penalty. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded her the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2023, following Iran’s largest protest movement in four decades, sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini in morality police custody.
In December 2024, she was granted furlough on medical grounds.
From inside prison, Mohammadi has expressed support for protesters and organized solidarity actions, which led to harsher restrictions on her.
Iranian authorities frequently arrest Kurds in connection with political activism and protests, with many detainees held without due process and denied legal representation. Arrests surged after Amini’s death, which triggered months of nationwide unrest.