Regimet i Iran has shifted to a different course, in which all opposition is treated more harshly. Status abroad means nothing. The Nobel Prize offers no protection. On 15 February, the message came that prizewinner Narges Mohammadi was beaten so severely that she suffered double vision and attacks of dizziness.

Mohammadi is weakened and does not offer physical resistance. Nevertheless, she is subjected to treatment that threatens life and health.

There is no proportionality in the treatment. The regime seeks to destroy all those it perceives as opponents.

The Iranian Nobel Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been transferred without notice to a prison in northern Iran, her family states.

According to her husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris, she was moved to a prison in the city of Zanjan without her family and Mohammadi’s lawyer being informed.

According to Mohammadi’s foundation, which is run by her supporters, she was transferred on Tuesday, but it was not until Saturday that she was able to give notice to the outside world – in a telephone call with her Iranian lawyer, Mostafa Nili.

Since she was arrested on 12 December, she has only been permitted to have one telephone call with her brother and two with her lawyer.

Blows to the head

– In our brief conversation, she told of the violence she was subjected to during the arrest, the pressure in the interrogations and particularly severe blows to the head, Nili writes in a post on X.

– These blows have led to dizziness, double vision and blurred vision. Bruises and marks from severe physical abuse are still visible on her body, he adds.

Mohammadi was awarded the Peace Prize in 2023 for her long-standing work for human rights in Iran. She has been imprisoned on a number of occasions.

This time she was arrested after she criticised the Iranian authorities in a speech she delivered at the funeral of a human rights advocate in the city of Mashhad.

Hunger strike

Earlier in February she initiated a hunger strike, and she has been hospitalised before being sent back to the prison.

The Nobel Committee earlier this week issued a press release in which they express shock and horror at the way Mohammadi is being treated. They also refer to sources who have reported that she continues to be subjected to life-threatening abuse in the prison.

Until now she has been confined in a prison in Mashhad that falls under the Ministry of Intelligence.