Iran sentences Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi to more jail time

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Iran sentenced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to more than seven additional years in prison after she went on a hunger strike, her supporters said, as Iranian authorities continued to crack down on dissent following nationwide unrest. Her supporters said she ended the strike Sunday after the sentencing, which they described as occurring amid broader political repression after protests and security force deaths.

Mohammadi’s hunger strike began Feb. 2 and continued until the sentence was announced, supporters said. They said she stopped the hunger strike after her health worsened, following several days of deteriorating conditions during the fast.

Mohammadi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the sentence on X, saying it was handed down Saturday by a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, according to the Associated Press report. Nili wrote that the court issued a six-year prison term for “meeting and collusion,” and an additional year and a half for propaganda and a two-year travel ban.

Nili also said Mohammadi received another two years of internal exile in Khosf, about 740 kilometers (460 miles) southeast of Tehran, Iran’s capital. The AP reported that Revolutionary Courts often issue verdicts with little or no opportunity for defendants to contest charges.

Agnes Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, wrote on X that the sentence reflected what she described as an increasing lethal crackdown on dissent and protests carried out by Iranian authorities. The Iranian government did not comment on the case, the AP report said.

The conviction came after Mohammadi had spent years in prison, including a term that her supporters said reflected prior state security and propaganda charges. The AP reported that she had been arrested in December during a ceremony honoring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old lawyer and Iranian human rights defender based in Mashhad, and that images from the event showed Mohammadi shouting demands for justice for Alikordi and others.

The sentence also arrived as Iran’s diplomacy with the United States remained tense. The AP reported that Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was speaking to diplomats in Tehran at a summit when he said Iran would maintain its position that it should be able to enrich uranium—an issue that has drawn major controversy with U.S. President Donald Trump, who bombarded Iranian nuclear sites in June during a 12-day Iran-Israel war.

As Araghchi spoke, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, praised what he called Friday talks in Oman with Americans as “a step forward,” according to the report. However, the AP said Araghchi’s remarks pointed to a continuing challenge ahead for any effort to reduce tensions, as the U.S. has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships and aircraft to the Middle East.

Araghchi also used the phrase “atomic bomb” as part of his argument about Iran’s leverage, according to the AP report. The report said Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, while Western governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said Tehran pursued a military program to develop a bomb until 2003.

The AP report also said it was unclear when and where a second round of talks might occur after Trump offered few details following the Oman discussions and said Iran appeared eager to reach a deal. It added that Iran warned pilots it planned “rocket launches” Monday to Tuesday in an area over Iran’s Semnan province, which is home to the Imam Khomeini Spaceport.