The Nobel Committee said Wednesday it was “deeply appalled” at the beating of Iranian peace laureate Narges Mohammadi following her December arrest.
Iranian authorities jailed the 53-year-old human rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate after her December 12 arrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad along with other activists after she spoke out against the government at a funeral ceremony for a lawyer.
On Saturday, she was sentenced to a new six-year prison sentence on charges of harming national security, as well as a one-and-a-half-year sentence for “propaganda” against Iran’s Islamic system.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee is deeply appalled by credible reports detailing the brutal arrest, physical abuse, and ongoing life-threatening mistreatment of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi, currently detained in Iran,” the committee stated, calling for her immediate release and access to medical aid.
The committee cited eyewitness accounts and testimony from Mohammadi’s family describing security agents “beating her repeatedly with wooden sticks and batons” and dragging her by her hair before further beatings later on.
After being placed in solitary confinement, she was moved around and at one point “taken under guard to a hospital” where her “extensive” injuries were observed, the statement added.
“Nevertheless, she continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical follow‑up while being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation,” it said, stressing that “such treatment constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and is in blatant violation of international human rights law”.
Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.
AFP