Iranian Noble Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to an additional 15 months in Prison, Mohammadi's family said in a written statement to CNN on Monday. Mohammadi has already spent 12 years in jail serving multiple sentences.
The extension follows a new charge, "spreading propaganda" against the Islamic Republic regime while in prison. During her trial, she refused to attend court proceedings or participate in questioning, the statement revealed. Atop the extra 15 months in prison, the new sentence orders Mohammadi to "two years of exile outside Tehran and neighboring provinces." She was also given a two-year travel ban, "a two-year ban on membership in social-political groups, and a two-year ban on using a smartphone," reported CNN.
This is Mohammadi's fifth conviction since 2021 and her third while incarcerated.
In a letter written from the notorious Evin Prison in 2023 and shared with CNN, Mohammadi railed against the government's policy of compulsory hijab, calling it a "deceitful scheme against women" and a tool "to strengthen the power of the religious government."
Last August she was sentenced to an additional year in jail for her continued activism behind bars, after she gave a media interview and a statement about sexual assaults in prison, which she says have "significantly increased," leading her to describe the abuse as now "systematic."
The Iranian government has denied the widespread allegations of sexual assaults against detainees, including in an in-depth CNN investigation last year, calling them "false" and "baseless."
Mohammadi has long campaigned for human rights in Iran and has been in and out of jail due to her devout activism according to BBC. The 51-year-old rights activist was awarded the Nobel Prize in October for "her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all." The achievement has come with a heavy cost as Mohammadi has spent most of the past two decades in prison.
Her teenage children accepted the prize, at Oslo's city hall, last month, on her behalf, having not seen their mother for years.
The children read a speech that had been smuggled out of prison, where Mohammadi denounced Iran's "tyrannical" government.
"I write this message from behind the high, cold walls of a prison. The Iranian people, with perseverance, will overcome repression and authoritarianism," quoted BBC.
As Mohammadi continues to serve out her sentence, The New York Times announced the temporary release of two journalists who reported on the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The news came a day after Iran released the journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi on bail while they appeal their sentences, according to state media. They had been jailed for their coverage of a young woman whose death sparked a nationwide protest movement that challenged the country's system of authoritarian clerical rule. Both women were charged with conspiring with foreign intelligence agencies to undermine national security, as well as spreading propaganda, and spent months in detention. After closed-door trials, they were sentenced in October - Ms. Hamedi to 13 years in prison and Ms. Mohammadi to 12 years.
Prosecutors filed a new complaint against the women on Monday.
