Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi sentenced to seven more years in prison

DUBAI — An Iranian court has sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to a further seven and half years in prison, supporters said on Sunday citing her lawyer.The human rights activist was sentenced to six years for “gathering and collusion”, and one-and-a-half years for “propaganda activities” by a court in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, her lawyer Mostafa Nili said on social media on Sunday.She received another two years of internal exile to the city of Khosf, some 740 kilometers southeast of Tehran, the lawyer added.The 53-year-old was made a Nobel laureate in 2023 for activism against the oppression of women in Iran.She had previously been sentenced to nearly 14-years in prison on other charges. Iranian authorities did not immediately acknowledge the more recent sentence.Supporters say Mohammadi has been on a hunger strike since 2 February. She had been arrested in December at a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who had been based in Mashhad.Mashhad prosecutor Hasan Hematifar told reporters that Mohammadi had been among 39 people arrested, and she and Alikordi’s brother had encouraged those present “to chant norm-breaking slogans” and “disturb the peace”.Footage from the demonstration showed her shouting, demanding justice for Alikordi and others.Mohammadi’s supporters had warned for months before her arrest in December that she was at risk of being sent back to prison after having received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.While that was to be only three weeks, Mohammadi’s time out of prison lengthened, possibly as activists and Western powers pushed Iran to keep her free.Mohammadi still kept up her activism with public protests and international media appearances, including even demonstrating at one point in front of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, where she had been held.Mohammadi was among signatories of a petition that expressed criticism of the Iranian authorities and held Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responsible for what it called “crimes against humanity” over the killing of protesters during unrest that began in late December.She also had backed the nationwide protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which have seen women openly defy the government by not wearing the hijab. — Agencies