Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who was imprisoned several times during her three decades of fighting for women's rights, was sentenced Sunday to a new six-year prison term.
Published on: 02/08/2026 - 7:55 p.m. Modified on: 02/08/2026 - 7:58 p.m.
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An Iranian court sentenced Narges Mohammadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, to six years in prison, her lawyer told AFP on Sunday February 8.
The human rights activist, aged 53, was arrested on December 12 in the city of Mashhad (north-eastern Iran) with other activists, after speaking at a ceremony in tribute to a lawyer found dead.
“She was sentenced to six years in prison for assembly and collusion to commit crimes,” said her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, who added that she was also banned from leaving the country for two years.
The activist was sentenced in another case to a year and a half in prison for "propaganda activities" and two years of exile in the town of Khosf, in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the lawyer said.
According to Iranian law, prison sentences are not cumulative.
End of hunger strike
Narges Mohammadi, 53, led a week-long hunger strike that ended on Sunday, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement, specifying that after weeks of detention in solitary confinement, the activist had informed her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, on Sunday that she had been sentenced on Saturday.
Me Nili, who was able to speak briefly with his client for the very first time, almost two months after her arrest, "was not informed of the holding of this unfair trial", indicated Narges Mohammadi's lawyer in France, Me Chirinne Ardakani.
Mostafa Nili expressed hope that due to Narges Mohammadi's poor health, she could be temporarily "released on bail for treatment." He also clarified that the verdict was not final and could be appealed.
Over the past 25 years, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has been repeatedly tried and imprisoned for her work against the death penalty in Iran and the strict dress code for women.
She has spent much of the last decade behind bars and has not seen her two children – who live in Paris – since 2015.
In December 2024, she was released for three weeks for medical reasons, linked to "her physical state after the removal of a tumor and a bone graft", according to her lawyer.
Never silent
Even behind bars, the Nobel laureate has not remained silent, organizing prison yard protests and leading hunger strikes, and has made a name for herself by defending the rights of political prisoners.
Born in 1972 in Zanjan, in the northwest of Iran, Narges Mohammadi studied physics before becoming an engineer. At the same time, she launched into journalism within reformist newspapers.
To (re)read Nobel Peace Prize: Narges Mohammadi, a life for the defense of human rights in Iran
In the 2000s, she joined the Center for Human Rights Defenders, founded by Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2003.
Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel in 2023 for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and for the promotion of human rights and freedom for all”.
Iran ranks second in the world for the number of executions after China, according to human rights groups including Amnesty International.
With AFP
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