Iran Sentences Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi to Over 7 Additional Years in Prison
By
Edmund Owusu
TEHRAN – Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to an additional seven years and six months in prison, her lawyer confirmed on Sunday, marking yet another crackdown on the prominent human rights defender by the Iranian judiciary.
The verdict, handed down by the Revolutionary Court in the city of Mashhad, comes just days after Mohammadi began a hunger strike to protest her detention conditions and the wider suppression of civil society in Iran.
The New Charges
According to her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, the new sentence stems from Mohammadi’s participation in a memorial service in December 2025 for Khosrow Alikordi, a human rights lawyer who was found dead under suspicious circumstances.
"She has been sentenced to six years in prison for 'gathering and collusion to commit crimes' and one and a half years for propaganda against the state," Nili wrote in a statement.
In addition to the prison term, the court has ordered Mohammadi to serve two years in internal exile in the remote city of Khosf and imposed a two-year travel ban upon her eventual release. Under Iranian law, sentences often run concurrently, meaning the longest single term—six years in this case—is likely the one she will serve, though her cumulative sentence from multiple convictions now spans over a decade.
Hunger Strike and Health Fears
Supporters say the 53-year-old activist began a hunger strike on February 2, 2026, demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to the "systematic repression" of women. Her health remains a grave concern; she underwent major surgery in late 2024 to remove a bone tumor and was briefly released on medical furlough before being returned to prison.
"A Voice That Cannot Be Silenced"
Mohammadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran, has spent much of the last two decades behind bars. She has not seen her husband or her twin children, who live in exile in Paris, since 2015.
Her family issued a statement condemning the new sentence as a "vengeful act" by a regime fearful of her influence. "They can lock up her body, but they cannot silence her voice," her husband Taghi Rahmani said.