Rights groups condemn reported re-arrest of Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi in Iran

BRUSSELS - International human rights groups on Dec 13 condemned the reported re-arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi in Iran, with the Nobel committee calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately clarify her whereabouts.

Ms Mohammadi’s French lawyer Chirine Ardakani said on X that

the human rights activist was arrested

on Dec 12 after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi at his memorial ceremony in the north-eastern city of Mashhad.

Mashhad prosecutor Hasan Hematifar told reporters on Dec 13 that Ms Mohammadi was among 39 people arrested after the ceremony.

Mr Hematifar said Ms Mohammadi and Mr Alikordi’s brother had made provocative remarks at the event and encouraged those present “to chant ‘norm-breaking’ slogans” and disturb the peace, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The prosecutor said Mashhad’s chief of police and another officer received knife wounds when trying to manage the scene.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee called on Iranian authorities “to immediately clarify Mohammadi’s whereabouts, ensure her safety and integrity, and to release her without conditions”.

A video purportedly showing Ms Mohammadi, 53, without the mandatory veil, standing on a car with a microphone and chanting “Long Live Iran” in front of a crowd, has gone viral on social media.

Ms Ardakani said Ms Mohammadi was beaten before her arrest, and social media reports say her whereabouts are unknown.

Reporters Without Borders said four journalists and other participants were also arrested at the memorial for human rights lawyer Alikordi, who was found dead in his office on Dec 5.

Authorities gave the cause of his death as a heart attack, but rights groups have called for an investigation into his death.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the crowd also chanted “death to the dictator”, a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as: “We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation”.

Ms Mohammadi, who received the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison, most recently from November 2021 when she was charged with “propaganda against the state”, “acting against national security”, and membership in “illegal organisations”.

The 2025s Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, said on Dec 13 that the opposition’s campaign in Venezuela was akin to that taking place in Iran.

“In Oslo this week, the world honoured the power of conscience. I said to the ‘citizens of the world’ that our struggle is a long march toward freedom. That march is not Venezuelan alone. It is Iranian, it is universal,” she said on X on Dec 13.  REUTERS