Iran refusing independent medical examination of beaten Nobel winner, says her family

Brother of peace laureate Narges Mohammadi says she described how police hit her in face, head and neck with truncheons, raising concerns of internal bleeding

PARIS — Iranian authorities are refusing to allow an independent medical examination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi after she was beaten during her arrest last week, her family said on Tuesday.

Her brother Hamid Reza Mohammadi, who lives in Norway, told reporters in Paris via video link that she had informed her other brother in Iran in a brief telephone call late on Sunday that police had beaten her with truncheons on her face, head, and neck.

Mohammadi, who won the prize in 2023, was detained along with dozens of activists on Friday after addressing a memorial ceremony in the eastern city of Mashhad for the lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead earlier this month.

“She has bruises on her neck and face,” Hamid Reza Mohammadi said. “She was in a very bad condition physically.”

“My brother [inside Iran] has tried to convince them to agree for an independent doctor to examine her to make sure she has no internal bleeding in the head or any other organ,” he said.

“But they have not agreed to it. We are very worried about how she is being held, where she is being held and how she is treated,” he added.

Mohammadi said his sister said she expected to be charged for “colluding against the Islamic Republic.”

Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison in 2023, following her three-decade campaign for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

Her husband Taghi Rahmani, who lives in Paris, added: “My brother-in-law asked for an independent doctor to examine her, but they refused. Now we are very worried about what will happen to her.”

Her supporters had said on Monday that prison authorities twice took Mohammadi to the hospital after her arrest.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International accused Iranian security forces of carrying out “torture and other ill-treatment” during the arrest, including by “violently beating” Mohammadi and her fellow activist Alieh Motalbzadeh.

Iranian prosecutor Hasan Hematifar said Saturday that Mohammadi and Alikordi’s brother made provocative remarks at the memorial, encouraging “norm-breaking slogans” and “disturbing the peace.”

Mohammadi has previously served multiple sentences on charges including spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. Late last year, she was released from Tehran’s Evin prison after the suspension of her jail term to undergo medical treatment.

‘Massive repression’

Iranian authorities have said 39 people were detained at the memorial ceremony, including Alikordi’s brother Javad.

But the Mohammadi family’s Paris-based lawyer Chirinne Ardakani said “at least 50 were arbitrarily detained” at the ceremony, which she said was attended by some 1,500 people and was addressed by Mohammadi amid a heavy presence by security forces mounted on motorbikes.

Ardakani said authorities will likely reactivate suspended sentences and bring her before a judge soon.

“They have committed no crime except for exercising freedom of expression,” she said.

Ardakani said she would present the case to the International Criminal Court as evidence of Iran’s crackdown on activists.

She said Mohammadi, along with the other activists, had been detained after she gave a defiant speech facing the security forces at the memorial for Alikordi, a 45-year-old lawyer who had defended clients arrested at protests.

Rights groups, including Mohammadi’s foundation, regard his death as suspicious, although Iranian authorities insist he died of a heart attack.

Ardakani said Mohammadi had told the gathering that “we stand tall, as brothers and sisters, we will stand tall until victory. Long live the fighters for freedom!”

“Immediately after saying this she was surrounded” and arrested, said Ardakani, referring to Mohammadi.

Images from the scene posted on social media showed Mohammadi, who was not wearing the Islamic headscarf mandated for women in Iran, standing on top of a car as the crowd chanted slogans against the authorities. Photos and reports from Iran indicate that an increasing number of women are defying the headscarf requirement.

Activists say Iran remains in the throes of a deep crackdown more than five months after the end of the 12-day war against Israel in June, with 1,400 people executed so far this year.

A UN fact-finding mission in October reported more than 21,000 arrests during the war, as well as 1,200 executions this year to that point, well above usual levels. Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world.

Ardakani said the team of rights groups and lawyers supporting Mohammadi were also planning to file “in the next days” a communication with the office of the prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging “crimes against humanity” are being committed by the Islamic Republic.

She acknowledged that Iran was not a party to the court and has not signed up to its Rome Statute but said an investigation could be opened under its laws due to the “massive and generalized character of the repression.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.