Narges Mohammadi

Narges Mohammadi (; born 21 April 1972) is an Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She has been imprisoned in Iran for several periods since 2016. She is back in prison after receiving a sentence of seven and a half years on 8 February 2026, but has had several health issues in recent years.

After working for some years as a journalist, in 2003 Mohammadi joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by Shirin Ebadi, later becoming vice president. In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for "establishing and running the illegal splinter group Legam". She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021, where she continued to provide reports of the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women. Mohammadi has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against the mandatory hijab in Iran, and was a vocal critic of hijab and chastity program of 2023. She has had many health issues since late 2024, including surgery to remove part of a bone in her right leg due to cancer. She was again arrested in December 2025. On 8 February 2026, she was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. On 1 April it was reported that she was in poor health following a suspected heart attack.

She has been the recipient of many human rights awards. In October 2023, while in prison, she was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all". Provided by Wikipedia