©picture alliance / Anadolu | Sergei Gapon
The Iranian regime stands firm, sentencing Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi (on hunger strike since early February) to more than seven years in prison while Tehran suppresses all dissidents following nationwide protests and the deaths of thousands at the hands of security forces.
The new sentences against Mohammadi come at a very sensitive time, when Iran has said it is willing to negotiate with the U.S. over its military nuclear program.
Mohammadi's lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the verdict on X and said it was handed down by a revolutionary court in the city of Mashhad. These are courts, CNN explains, that usually issue sentences with little or no opportunity for defendants to challenge what they are accused of.
Sentences from the revolutionary court in the city of Mashhad are not binding
She was sentenced to six years in prison for 'collection and collusion' and a year and a half for propaganda and was given a two-year travel ban, she wrote.
Narges must also spend two more years in internal exile in the city of Khosf, about 740 kilometers southeast of Tehran.
The hunger strike
On February 8, the Foundation dedicated to her reported that Mohammadi had begun a new hunger strike to denounce what she considers illegal detention and the harsh conditions under which she must live in prison. She is denied of basic rights: she is not allowed to make phone calls, meet with her lawyers or have visitors.
Her medical condition is particularly severe. The Foundation's note lists heart attacks, chest pain, high blood pressure, spinal problems and other ailments. Continued detention, it stresses, poses a real danger to his life and a violation of human rights standards. It is therefore imperative that she have constant access to medical care and to her own health care team, a guarantee often not offered in prisons in the Islamic Republic.
"We fear very much for her life," said her son Ali Rahmani from Paris, who along with his sister heads the Foundation named after his mother.
According to the activist's supporters, preventing her communication with the outside world means silencing one of the country's most influential critical voices.
Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for her more than 20 years of fighting for human rights, especially those of women in Iran. In 2022, she openly supported the protests that erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly.
During the course of her civil struggle, she often resorted to nonviolent forms of protest, including demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes. It was precisely because of her imprisonment that she was awarded the Nobel Prize in absentia. The prize was collected in Oslo by her twin children Kiana and s, then 17, who read aloud a message smuggled out of Evin prison:
"The Iranian people will tenaciously overcome oppression and authoritarianism. Have no doubt: it will happen."
(©Narges Foundation via GreenMe.it 2026/Managing Editor: Selma Keshkire - The Press Junction/Picture: ©picture alliance / Anadolu | Sergei Gapon)