Iran sentences Nobel peace laureate to six years in prison

TEHRAN: An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a six-year prison term, her lawyer said on Sunday.

“She has been sentenced to six years in prison for gathering and collusion to commit crimes,” lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that she had also received a two-year ban on leaving the country. Mohammadi was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for propaganda activities and is to be exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the lawyer stated. Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.

Nili expressed hope that due to Mohammadi’s health issues, she could be temporarily “released on bail to receive treatment”. He added that the verdict issued was not final and could be appealed.

Over the past quarter-century, Mohammadi, 53, has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her vocal campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and the mandatory dress code for women.

Mohammadi has spent much of the past decade behind bars and has not seen her twin children, who live in Paris, since 2015. In December 2024, she was released on medical grounds, initially for three weeks, due to “her physical condition after the removal of a tumour and a bone graft”, according to her lawyer. However, she spent much of last year outside of custody, continuing to make statements in spite of her lawyers’ fears she could be sent back to prison. On Dec 12, Mohammadi was held in Mashhad with other activists after speaking at a ceremony honouring a lawyer who had been found dead.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2026