Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner not feeling well after ‘violent’ arrest, supporters say

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Iranian civil society activists, including award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Narges and other activists arrested at the ceremony. There was no information on her whereabouts or communications with her until Sunday evening, when she made a “short and terse” phone call to her family, her foundation said in a statement.

In the appeal, Narges reported how, during the ceremony, she “was attacked by plainclothes officers with violent and repeated baton blows to the head and neck, and was subsequently violently arrested.”

“Narges Mohammadi said during the call that the intensity of the beatings was so strong, violent and repeated that she had to be taken to the hospital emergency room twice,” the foundation said, adding that during the call “her physical condition was not good and she did not seem well.”

One of her brothers, Hamid Mohammadi, who lives in Norway, told AFP in Oslo that Narges had called another brother in Iran, saying she had been hit “brutally” in the head and face and that “as a result she was taken to be examined by a doctor.”

“She is not hospitalized and remains in detention,” he said.

“Form of violent arrest”

According to Mashhad prosecutor Hassan Hemmatifar, 38 people were arrested during the ceremony, including Narges and prominent activist Sepideh Gholian, for inciting people to chant slogans that “violated norms.” Alikordi’s brother Javad was arrested later the same day.

Human rights organizations, including the Mohammadi Foundation, called Alikordi’s death “suspicious” and called for an investigation. Iranian authorities said the 45-year-old lawyer died of a heart attack. The Nobel Peace Prize committee described her arrest as “brutal”, with President Jorgen Watne Frydnes telling AFP on Saturday that he had “called on the Iranian authorities to clarify where she is and how she is, but above all to release her from prison”.

Narges, who has spent much of the last decade in and out of prison, was allowed to leave prison in December 2024 for medical reasons. Over the past year, she has continued her campaign. Footage from the ceremony showed Mohammadi – without wearing the obligatory veil for women in public in the Islamic republic – getting into a car to address the crowd who were chanting slogans against the authorities.

“A worrying state of freedom”

During the call, Narges asked her family to “immediately and without delay file an official complaint against the security agency responsible for her detention and against the violent manner in which she was arrested.” It is unclear what she and the other detained activists are accused of, and the statement also said Narges did not know “which security authority is currently holding her.”

The foundation said that, according to Mohammadi, “during and after her arrest, she was accused of ‘cooperating with the Israeli government’.” Iranian authorities have yet to confirm any charges. Activists say Iran remains in the midst of a deep crackdown more than five months after the end of the 12-day war against Israel, with more than 1,400 people executed this year alone.

Panahi, his colleague Mohammad Rasoulof and more than a dozen other activists said what happened at Alkordi’s memorial ceremony “was a stark reflection of the worrying state of freedom and security and, therefore, the ineffectiveness and lack of accountability of the authorities in today’s Iran.”

“The deep political and social impasse in which the country finds itself can only be resolved through the restoration of the sovereignty of the people,” said the signatories of the declaration.