By Gloria Ogbonna

The Iranian government has added another seven and a half years to the prison sentence of jailed human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, deepening international outrage over Tehran’s escalating repression of dissent following last month’s widespread nationwide protests.

Mohammadi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, announced the new sentence on Saturday, saying it was imposed as part of the regime’s renewed effort to silence prominent critics and intimidate activists.

According to Nili, Mohammadi was sentenced to six additional years in prison on charges of “gathering and collusion,” along with one and a half years for so-called “propaganda activities” against the state. The ruling also includes a two-year travel ban.

In addition to the extended prison time, the court reportedly ordered two years of “internal exile,” a punishment that would bar Mohammadi from leaving the city of Khosf once she is eventually released, further restricting her freedom and ability to continue her activism.

Now 53, Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her decades-long fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her broader campaign to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.

By the time she received the prestigious award, she had already been arrested at least 13 times and was being held in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, a facility long associated with political repression and abuse.

In a cruel irony, Mohammadi had previously been jailed in 2021 on charges of “spreading propaganda against the state,” and one of the pieces of evidence reportedly used against her by prosecutors was her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize that same year. Although she did not win the prize in 2021, she ultimately became a laureate two years later—while still behind bars.

Despite her imprisonment, Mohammadi emerged as a key intellectual and moral leader of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that erupted across Iran in 2022.

The protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in custody after being arrested by Iran’s notorious “morality police” for allegedly failing to wear her mandatory headscarf properly.

Mohammadi’s health has severely deteriorated during her years in detention. In December 2024, Iranian authorities granted her a three-week medical furlough due to what international observers described as “severe” medical conditions developed in prison.

The Nobel Committee and multiple human rights organizations called for her release to be made permanent, citing serious concerns, including the possibility that she had developed bone cancer. She had also suffered multiple heart attacks during emergency surgery in 2022.

True to her defiant spirit, Mohammadi walked out of Evin Prison at the start of her furlough singing the anthem of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, a powerful image that quickly spread around the world. Although her temporary freedom lasted longer than the initially announced three weeks, it was short-lived.

In December 2025, Mohammadi was rearrested while attending a memorial service for prominent human rights lawyer Khosro Alikordi.

According to the France-based Narges Foundation, which advocates on her behalf, she was surrounded by plainclothes security agents and violently detained, suffering “severe and repeated baton blows to the head and neck” during her arrest.

Authorities later accused her of making provocative remarks about Alikordi’s death, which the regime officially attributed to a sudden heart attack.

However, many activists and observers believe he may have been killed by the state due to his legal work defending political prisoners.

Last week, Mohammadi launched a six-day hunger strike to protest her continued detention and what she described as the illegality of the charges against her.

As the hunger strike was ending, a court in the northeastern city of Mashhad abruptly put her on trial on new accusations of “collusion” with foreign powers and engaging in “propaganda activities.”

The court’s decision added another 7.5 years to the 13-year sentence she has been serving since 2021.

According to her husband, Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi was denied basic legal rights during the proceedings. She reportedly had no legal representation and refused to participate in her defense, arguing that Iran’s judiciary “holds no legitimacy” and that the trial was “a mere charade with a pre-determined end.”

“Though she was likely forced to attend, she remained silent she did not utter a single word, nor did she sign a single paper,” Rahmani told the BBC on Sunday.

Human rights groups have condemned the latest sentence as politically motivated and warned that Mohammadi’s life remains at serious risk as the Iranian regime tightens its grip on dissenting voices.

Source Breitbart