Iranian Nobel laureate taken to hospital after 'violent arrest', family says
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi was taken to hospital after being beaten when she was arrested last week, her family says.
The 53-year-old human rights activist told them in a phone call on Sunday that she was brought to an emergency department twice after being "attacked by plain clothed agents with severe and repeated baton blows to the head and neck", according to the Narges Foundation.
There was no comment from Iranian authorities, but they have said she was detained for making "provocative remarks" at a memorial ceremony in the city of Mashhad on Friday.
The Nobel Committee and award-winning film-maker Jafar Panahi are among those calling for her release.
Ms Mohammadi, the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and promoting human rights.
She has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison.
Since 2021, she has been serving a 13-year sentence on charges of committing "propaganda activity against the state" and "collusion against state security", which she denied.
In December 2024, she was given a temporary release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison on medical grounds.
She has continued campaigning while undergoing treatment.
On Friday, she gave a speech at a memorial ceremony in Mashhad for Khosrow Alikordi, a human rights activist and lawyer who was found dead earlier this month in what human rights groups described as "suspicious" circumstances.