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Iran has sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to more than seven years in prison after he went on hunger strike, supporters said Sunday, as Tehran cracked down on all dissidents following nationwide protests and the death of thousands at the hands of security forces.
Mohammadi’s new conviction comes as Iran tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program to avoid a military strike threatened by US President Donald Trump. Iran’s top official insisted on Sunday that Tehran’s power comes from its ability to “reject the great powers,” striking a high-profile post after talks in Oman with the US.
Mohammadi’s supporters cited his lawyer, who spoke to him. The lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed this sentence on social media X, saying that it was issued on Saturday by the Transitional Court in the city of Mashhad. Such courts often issue judgments without the opportunity for defendants to contest their cases.
“He was sentenced to six years in prison for ‘gathering’ and one and a half years for spreading propaganda and a two-year travel ban,” wrote Nili. He received two more years of exile in the city of Khosf, 740 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, the lawyer said.
Iran did not immediately accept the sentence. Supporters say Mohammadi has been on hunger strike since Feb. 2. He was arrested in December at an event honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights lawyer who lived in Mashhad, where he died in December.
Mohammadi is a symbol of Iranian activism
Supporters had warned months before his arrest in December that Mohammadi, 53, was at risk of being sent back to prison after being granted a reprieve in December 2024 due to health issues.
Although that would last only three weeks, Mohammadi’s time out of prison was extended, possibly as activists and Western powers pressured Iran to release him. He stayed out even during the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel.
Mohammadi continued his activism through public protests and international media appearances, including at one point demonstrating in front of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where he was being held.
Mohammadi was serving 13 years and nine months on charges of collaborating with state security and propaganda against the Iranian government. He also supported the national protests caused by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, and seeing women openly defying the government by not wearing the hijab.
The children of imprisoned Iranian women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf on Sunday. They read a defiant letter that Mohammadi smuggled out of his cell, saying to continue resisting the regime.
Mohammadi suffered multiple heart attacks while in prison before undergoing emergency surgery in 2022, his supporters said. His lawyer in late 2024 revealed that doctors found a lesion on the bone that they feared could be cancerous and it was removed.
Given his illness, he is expected to be temporarily released on bail so that he can get help,” wrote Nili.
However, Iranian officials have been taking a hard line against all dissent since the protests began. Speaking on Sunday, Iran’s chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, made comments suggesting that harsh prison terms awaited many.
“Look at the people who have had a revolution and are with the revolution,” he said. “Today, what they say, what they write, what statements they issue, they are unfortunate, depressed. [and] they will face the damage.”
