Micah Jonah
February 9, 2026
Iranian authorities have sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate and women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi to more than seven additional years in prison, according to her lawyers and a foundation that supports her work.
Mohammadi, aged 53, received the sentence while in detention in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said she was handed six years for gathering and collusion to commit crimes, as well as one and a half years for propaganda activities. The court also ordered her internal exile for two years to the city of Khosf in South Khorasan province and imposed a two year travel ban.
The sentence was delivered shortly after Mohammadi ended a week long hunger strike, which she began earlier this month to protest her detention conditions and restrictions on access to her lawyers and family. According to the Narges Foundation, her health deteriorated significantly during the protest.
Mohammadi reportedly told her lawyer during a phone call from prison that she had been briefly transferred to hospital due to her worsening condition but was returned to a security detention facility before completing treatment. Supporters have warned that her continued detention poses a serious risk to her life.
Nili said the verdict is not final and can still be appealed. He added that efforts are being made to secure her temporary release on bail to allow her receive medical care.
Mohammadi was arrested in December while attending a memorial ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, whose death she had publicly questioned. Iranian prosecutors accused her of making provocative remarks and encouraging slogans that disturbed public order.
She is the second Iranian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, after Shirin Ebadi, and was awarded the honour in 2023 for her decades long campaign for women’s rights, opposition to the death penalty and advocacy for political prisoners.
Mohammadi serves as deputy director of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an organisation that has long challenged human rights abuses in Iran. The Nobel Committee has described her as a symbol of resistance and freedom.
Her latest sentencing has drawn renewed international concern over Iran’s treatment of activists and critics, particularly as pressure mounts on the country over civil liberties and human rights practices.
