An undated and unlocated photo of Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. (Credit: Narges Mohammad Foundation/ AFP) (FILES) A handout photo provided by the Narges Mohammadi Foundation on October 2, 2023 shows an undated, unlocated photo of Iranian rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi. An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a six-year prison term, her lawyer told AFP on February 8, 2026. "She has been sentenced to six years in prison for gathering and collusion to commit crimes," lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that she had also received a two-year ban on leaving the country. (Photo by NARGES MOHAMMADI FOUNDATION / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NARGES MOHAMMADI FOUNDATION" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Narges Mohammadi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate detained since December, was transferred to a prison in northern Iran without prior warning, her husband said Saturday, as her family voiced concern for her health.
The human rights activist, sentenced to six years in prison, was arrested on Dec. 12 in the northeastern city of Mashhad along with other campaigners after speaking at a ceremony honoring a lawyer who had been found dead.
She had since been held in a detention center run by the Ministry of Intelligence in Mashhad, where she was allowed only two phone calls — one to a brother in Iran and another to her lawyer. She was later moved to a prison in Zanjan, in the north of the country, her husband, Taghi Rahmani, said on X, without specifying when the transfer took place.
“This measure was taken without informing her family or her lawyer,” said Rahmani, who lives in Paris, adding that he believed the move was intended “to exile Narges.”
Mohammadi was born in 1972 in Zanjan. Over the past 25 years, she has been repeatedly prosecuted and jailed for campaigning against the death penalty and Iran’s strict dress code for women.
This month, she staged a weeklong hunger strike to demand the right to make phone calls, and her family has expressed alarm about her fragile health following what they described as her “violent” arrest.
In December 2024, she was released for three weeks for medical reasons related to “her physical condition after the removal of a tumor and a bone graft,” according to her lawyer. In early February, she was sentenced on charges of “assembly and collusion with intent to commit crimes” and “propaganda activities.”
She was detained before the eruption of the protest movement that authorities violently suppressed in January. Her supporters say the phone call ban is an attempt to silence her, fearing she might speak out about the unrest.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023.
