By Mostafa Salem, Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
(CNN) — Imprisoned Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi was subjected to beatings and “life-threatening mistreatment” by Iranian authorities during her arrest and detention, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Wednesday.
During her arrest in December, security forces beat the activist repeatedly with wooden sticks and batons, dragged her by the hair, tearing sections of her scalp, and beat her in the transport vehicle, the committee said in a statement, citing “credible reports.”
It said she was “repeatedly kicked in the genitals and pelvic region, leaving her unable to sit or move without severe pain.”
Mohammadi, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights activists, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 and has spent most of the past two decades as an inmate of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
In December 2024, Iranian authorities suspended her prison term to allow her to recover from surgery, but she was arrested again a year later and has remained in detention since then.
On Saturday, Mohammadi was sentenced to more than seven additional years in prison, according to her lawyer.
The new sentence was imposed amid a widespread crackdown on dissent in Iran following mass protests against the regime in January that have plunged the country into crisis.
On Sunday, Mohammadi ended a hunger strike she began in early February to protest her “unlawful detention, dire prison conditions, and the denial of contact with her family and lawyers,” according to her foundation, which cited reports indicating that her physical condition was “deeply alarming.”
In a short call on Sunday with her lawyer Mostafa Nili, Mohammadi said she was hospitalized last week but was transferred back to the detention center in Mashhad before her treatment was complete.
Mohammadi has a medical history that includes heart attacks, chest pain and high blood pressure, as well as spinal disc issues and other illnesses, according to the foundation, which is run by her family.
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