Narges Mohammadi faces threats from Iranian authorities

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced today, Friday, that women’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi has received direct and indirect threats of physical liquidation from Iranian authorities during an urgent phone call from Mohammadi herself.

Narges Mohammadi, who spent most of the past decade in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was released for a limited period last December due to medical reasons. Her legal team has repeatedly warned about the possibility of her re-arrest at any moment.

The committee stated that its chair, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, received a phone call from Narges Mohammadi (53 years old), in which she informed him that her life is now under direct threat.

Frydnes said, "The clear message, in her own words, is: she has been directly and indirectly threatened with physical liquidation by agents of the regime."

The committee’s statement pointed out that these threats were conditional on Mohammadi ceasing all her public activities inside Iran, as well as any international activities or media appearances in her ongoing defense of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.

The Nobel Committee expressed its "deep concern" regarding the threats against Narges Mohammadi and all Iranian citizens who raise critical voices, calling on Iranian authorities to protect their lives and guarantee their freedom of expression.

Narges Mohammadi is considered one of the most prominent human rights voices in Iran; she has faced multiple trials and imprisonment several times because of her outspoken stance against the death penalty and the compulsory hijab imposed on women.

Narges Mohammadi is the nineteenth woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the second Iranian woman to receive it after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi in 2003.

A-H 

ANHA