Iran court sentences Nobel peace laureate Mohammadi to another 15 months in prison
Tehran, IRAN (EFE/AP) – An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi to 15 months in prison and two years in exile for “spreading propaganda” against the Islamic Republic, in what is the fifth sentence against the rights activist since 2021, her family said Monday.
“The Revolutionary Court sentenced Narges Mohammadi to endure fifteen months in prison, two years of exile outside Tehran and neighboring provinces, a two-year travel ban, a two-year ban on membership in social-political groups, and a two year ban on using a smartphone,” the family said in a statement on Instagram.
Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the second Iranian woman after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi in 2003. The 51-year-old Mohammadi has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars.
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Mohammadi, 51, refused to appear for the trial, which was eventually held on Dec. 19 last year, in her absence at the Revolutionary Tribunal in Tehran, alleging a lack of judicial independence for a fair hearing and a supposed illegality of the revolutionary courts in the Persian country.
In recent months, the human rights activist had denounced the revolutionary courts for issuing death sentences against the country’s youth, particularly citing the case of Mohsen Shekari, 23, who became the first protester to be executed for participating in the protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
“The judgment resembles a political statement against Narges Mohammadi, emphasizing accusations that she repeatedly incites and encourages public and individual opinions against the Islamic regime to sow chaos and disturbances,” read the statement from the family.
The activist has been serving a 10-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison since November 2021.
This is the fifth sentence against the activist since 2021, of which three have been issued while under imprisonment, and the first since she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prestigious prize to Mohammadi “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
The award was collected by her children on Dec. 10 at a ceremony in Oslo.
Mohammadi has been sentenced to a total of 12 years and three months of imprisonment and 154 lashes, among other punishments.
While women in Iran hold jobs, academic positions and even government appointments, their lives are tightly controlled in part by laws like the mandatory hijab. Iran and neighboring, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan remain the only countries to mandate that. Since Amini’s death, however, more women are choosing not to wear the headscarf despite an increasing campaign by authorities targeting them and businesses serving them.
