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Detention and alleged assault
Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime Iranian rights campaigner, was detained on Dec. 12 at a memorial in Mashhad.
“security and police forces "violently detained" Mohammadi and other activists during a memorial for Khosrow Alikordi...Mohammadi was among 39 people detained; witnesses told the foundation that about 15 plainclothes agents assaulted her, dragging her by the hair and striking her with batons.”
According to her family, the Narges Foundation and eyewitnesses, she was subjected to violent treatment during her arrest.
Witnesses cited by multiple foundations and outlets said about 15 plainclothes agents dragged her by the hair and beat her with batons and clubs.
They said she and dozens of others were taken into custody, with reports indicating 39 people detained in total.
Several outlets reported she was taken to a hospital emergency department after the detention.
These accounts, from family-linked and independent reporting, uniformly describe a forceful arrest that resulted in immediate medical attention.
Detention and injuries
Mohammadi's family reported a phone call in which she sounded unwell and described 'heavy, forceful and repeated' blows to her head and neck.
Multiple outlets say she was taken to emergency care twice and has been in poor condition.
She has asked her legal team to file a formal complaint against the detaining security body over the violent arrest.
Family-run sources say she received death threats during or after the detention.
Several reports note she had recently been released from Evin prison on medical leave in December 2024 before continuing her campaigning.
Allegations and arrest status
Mohammadi and her supporters say authorities accused her of cooperating with the Israeli government (or variants such as collaboration with the State of Israel in some reports), and family reports say security forces issued death threats.
“Authorities have accused her of "cooperating with the Israeli government."”
Iranian prosecutors have accused the detained group of making provocative statements or encouraging norm-breaking slogans at the ceremony, and media accounts note that Iranian authorities have not provided public confirmation of specific legal charges immediately following the arrests.
Controversial death and arrest
The arrest came amid controversy over the recent death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi.
Mohammadi had publicly questioned his suspicious death and attended his memorial, where authorities say the group made provocative remarks.
Rights groups and Mohammadi's foundation have called for an investigation into Alikordi's death and condemned the arrest as further evidence of shrinking freedoms, while Iranian officials say he died of a heart attack.
Mohammadi's long record of activism, campaigning for women's rights and the abolition of the death penalty and spending years imprisoned, frames both the domestic sensitivity of her re-detention and the international alarm at reports of violence.
International response and coverage
International reaction has been swift among some media outlets and human‑rights groups.
“The Nobel Peace Prize committee condemned Mohammadi’s arrest as "brutal"; chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes urged authorities to clarify her whereabouts and to release her.”
The Nobel Peace Prize committee, filmmakers and rights activists demanded clarification of her whereabouts and called for her release.
Her family has filed legal complaints over what they describe as a violent arrest.
Coverage tones vary: some outlets foreground condemnation and calls for immediate release, while others report the incident mainly as arrests with official explanations, and several sources say it reflects a wider pattern of pressure on Iranian dissidents.