Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi is on hunger strike while being held in detention by the Iranian authorities, according to a statement from her foundation.
In the statement shared exclusively with CNN, the Paris-based foundation, which is run by her family, says it has received credible information that Mohammadi began her strike on Monday “to protest her illegal detention and the dire conditions in which she is being held, realities faced by many political prisoners currently held in Iran.”
Ali Rahmani, Mohammadi’s son, said in a statement that he was “very worried” about his mother and every other person detained by the regime.
“What is happening in our country is a crime against humanity,” Rahmani said, adding that before her arrest, his mother had “appealed for solidarity, unity and peace.”
Mohammadi was arrested in December by security and police forces during a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer and human rights activist who was found dead in his office.
She was arrested in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city.
The foundation said that due to Mohammadi’s medical history, which includes heart attacks, chest pains, high blood pressure, as well as spinal disc issues and other ailments, “her continued detention is extremely dangerous and a violation of human rights laws.”
The Nobel Peace Prize winner also had restricted access to her family, the Foundation said, and only had one phone call with her brother on December 14, with no contact since then.
Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi’s husband, said that the authorities were asking that when his wife makes phone calls, she says everything correctly. “But the Narges we know refuse to submit to such pressure; she insists on speaking her truth,” he said.
“They also know that if she is released, she will immediately resume her activism, as she considers it her duty to rejoin the people,” added Taghi. “Narges will never be silenced, and it is her voice that they fear the most.”
Critic of the regime
One of Iran’s most prominent human rights activists, Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023.
She spent most of the last two decades as a prisoner in Tehran’s Evin prison — known for holding critics of the regime.
In December 2024, the Iranian authorities suspended her prison term for three weeks to allow her to recover from an operation to remove part of a bone in her lower right leg, where doctors had discovered a suspected cancerous lesion.
Mohammadi was expected to return to prison shortly after, but had remained on parole until her December arrest. She was sentenced to multiple prison terms totaling 36 years on charges including acting against national security and spreading propaganda, according to the Narges Foundation.
Supporters say she is a political prisoner, held for working to advance women’s rights and democracy.
“In these difficult days for our country, Iran, we ask human rights organizations, activists, and the global community to think of political prisoners in detention centers and put practical actions on the agenda to save their lives,” the Foundation said Wednesday.
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