Iranian security forces arrested Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi on Friday during a memorial ceremony for a prominent human rights lawyer, her supporters said.
Ms Mohammadi, who won the 2023 prize for her advocacy for women’s rights and political freedom in Iran, was detained in the north-eastern city of Mashhad while attending a ceremony marking seven days since the death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, according to a foundation established in her name.
Supporters said security and police forces “violently” detained Ms Mohammadi, 53, along with several other activists.
She had been granted temporary medical leave from Tehran’s Evin Prison in December 2024 after years of intermittent detention.
Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on the arrest, and it was unclear whether Ms Mohammadi would be returned to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.
Mr Alikordi, a 46-year-old human rights lawyer, was found dead earlier this month in his office under circumstances that have fuelled suspicion among activists.
Officials in Razavi Khorasan province said he died of a heart attack, but more than 80 lawyers have signed a statement demanding greater transparency, citing a broader security crackdown that coincided with his death.
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran described Mr Alikordi as a prominent defender of civil liberties who had faced repeated arrests and threats from security forces over the years.
“The arrest of those attending a peaceful memorial ceremony constitutes a serious violation of fundamental freedoms,” the Narges Foundation said in a statement, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.
The detention comes as Iran tightens pressure on activists, lawyers and intellectuals while grappling with US sanctions, persistent inflation and fears of renewed confrontation with Israel. Arresting Ms Mohammadi could complicate Tehran’s efforts to signal openness to renewed negotiations with Washington over its nuclear programme, though formal talks have yet to resume.
Video circulated by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency showed Ms Mohammadi attending the ceremony without a headscarf, a symbolic act of defiance in Tehran.
Footage aired by Persian-language broadcasters outside Iran showed her standing on top of a vehicle with a microphone, urging mourners to chant slogans including: “Long live Iran”, “We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation”, and “Death to the dictator”.
Ms Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade in detention, with her last arrest in November 2021.
Her twin children accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf in Oslo in 2023. She has said she has not seen them for 11 years and has been permanently barred from leaving Iran.
Despite repeated arrests, Ms Mohammadi has remained openly defiant, predicting the eventual collapse of Iran’s clerical system and continuing to address foreign audiences and to meet activists across the country.
