11/10/2026
Narges Mohammadi has spent years inside Iranian prisons, separated from her children, punished for demanding rights that millions of women are denied.
Her record of persecution is extraordinary: 13 arrests, prison sentences totaling 31 years, and 154 lashes.
Born in 1972, Mohammadi became one of Iran's most prominent human rights activists, campaigning against the death penalty, torture, solitary confinement and the treatment of women under the Islamic Republic.
Her activism came at a devastating personal cost.
Her husband, fellow activist Taghi Rahmani, went into exile in France with their twins, Ali and Kiana. Mohammadi remained in Iran, where repeated imprisonment meant missing birthdays, childhood milestones and years of ordinary family life.
In 2022, after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide protests, Mohammadi continued speaking out from behind prison walls. She documented abuses against female prisoners and supported the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
In October 2023, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
She could not travel to Oslo to accept it. Her teenage children stood in her place, reading her words to an international audience while their mother remained imprisoned in Tehran.
The empty chair at the ceremony became a powerful reminder of the price she had paid.
For Mohammadi, the struggle had never been abstract. It meant prison cells, lost years with her children, and the constant threat of further punishment.
Her Nobel Prize brought worldwide recognition, but it did not restore the years taken from her family.
In December 2025, she was arrested again. In February 2026, another seven-and-a-half-year sentence followed. After a serious medical crisis in prison, she was temporarily released on medical grounds in May.
By October 2026, Mohammadi was still in Iran, separated from her family in France and facing the possibility of imprisonment again.
Her children had accepted a Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. They were still waiting for their mother to come home.
