Nobel Peace Prize Winner Narges Mohammadi Brutally Arrested at Memorial Ceremony in Iran

The Norwegian Nobel committee has expressed strong condemnation regarding the arrest of Narges Mohammadi.

Iranian security forces detained 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi on Friday, along with at least eight other activists. The Norwegian Nobel committee described the arrest as "brutal."

Mohammadi, who had been granted temporary release from prison in December 2024, was apprehended while attending a memorial ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was discovered dead in his office the previous week. Her foundation reported this information on X.

Among those arrested at the ceremony in Mashhad's eastern city was prominent activist Sepideh Gholian, who had previously shared incarceration with Mohammadi in Tehran's Evin prison.

"These individuals were simply present to pay respects and show solidarity at a memorial ceremony," stated her foundation, adding that these arrests "represent a clear and serious violation of fundamental freedoms and basic human rights."

Hamid Mohammadi, one of her brothers residing in Oslo, told AFP: "Narges was beaten on her legs and was grabbed by her hair and dragged down."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed being "deeply concerned by today's brutal arrest" of Mohammadi and called upon Iran to "immediately" disclose her whereabouts.

The arrest occurred just two days following the Oslo ceremony honoring the 2025 prize recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a vocal critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who maintains an alliance with Tehran.

The Nobel committee remarked that it "notes" the timing "considering the close collaboration between the regimes in Iran and Venezuela."

Within Iran, the Mehr news agency cited Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini saying that individuals were arrested at the ceremony after "chanting slogans deemed contrary to public norms" though they were not identified by name.

Alikordi, aged 45, was a lawyer who had defended clients in sensitive cases, including individuals arrested during the nationwide protest crackdown that erupted in 2022.

His body was discovered on December 5, prompting rights groups to call for an investigation into his death. The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights stated that it "had very serious suspicion of a state murder."

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) shared footage showing Mohammadi attending the ceremony without wearing the mandatory headscarf required for women in public in the Islamic republic, accompanied by other Alikordi supporters.

HRANA reported that they shouted slogans including "Long live Iran," "We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation" and "Death to the dictator" during the ceremony which, following Islamic tradition, marked seven days since Alikordi's death.

Additional footage broadcast by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed Mohammadi standing atop a vehicle with a microphone, encouraging people to chant slogans.

"When peaceful citizens cannot mourn without being beaten and dragged away, it reveals a government terrified of truth and accountability. It also demonstrates the extraordinary courage of Iranians who refuse to surrender their dignity," stated Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Mohammadi, 53, who was last arrested in November 2021, has spent much of the past decade incarcerated.

Her twin children accepted the Nobel prize in Oslo on her behalf in 2023, and she has not seen them for 11 years. Her temporary release in December 2024 was permitted due to health concerns related to lung problems and other issues.

"In prison, she experienced many complications affecting her lungs, heart, and required several operations," explained Hamid Mohammadi.

"I'm not worried about her arrest, as she's been arrested numerous times, but what concerns me most is the potential physical and psychological pressure they might impose on her, which could trigger those complications again," he added.

Mohammadi has consistently predicted the eventual collapse of the clerical system governing Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. In a recent 19th birthday message to her twins, she stated that "they (the authorities) themselves live each day in fear of the inevitable fall that will come at the hands of the Iranian people."