January 17, 2025
Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi was furloughed from prison for three weeks in December on medical grounds, according to her lawyer. The 21-day furlough expired December 25 but she remained free. And three weeks later, she was still free.
It is rare, but not unheard of, for the regime to furlough “difficult” prisoners and never recall them. Mohammadi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said officials had suspended his client’s jail sentence on doctor’s advice after Mohammadi underwent surgery to remove a tumor.
Her family and supporters called for her to be freed permanently, describing the temporary release as “too little, too late.” The 52-year-old women’s rights activist had been held in Tehran’s Evin prison since 2021. Her husband, who lives in Paris with their two teenaged children, said his wife exited Evin prison “chanting the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom.’ She came out in a good state of mind, a combative state, despite her very fragile state of health.” She also came out with her huge mop of hair uncovered. In a statement, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said she underwent surgery in November after doctors discovered a bone lesion in her right leg suspected of being cancerous.
She was then transferred back to prison after just two days. The group said that was done “against her doctor’s advice and request from her legal team, even though she was unable to walk or even sit.” Since then, Mohammadi has seen a “rapid development of bedsores and intensified pain in her back and legs.”
The foundation called the 21-day suspension “inadequate” and said a minimum of three months of recovery is crucial for her recovery. Unlike a medical furlough, which would have allowed the recovery period to count toward her prison sentence, this suspension means she will be legally required to serve additional time after returning to prison, the foundation said.
Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her campaigning against the oppression of women in Iran. Her teenage children accepted the prize in Oslo on her behalf in December 2023 and read a speech that had been smuggled out of prison.
“I write this message from behind the high, cold walls of a prison. The Iranian people, with perseverance, will overcome repression and authoritarianism,” Mohammadi wrote. In 2016, she was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but was later released on bail.
She then launched a campaign to stop solitary confinement and published two books and a documentary film. She was arrested again in 2021 and has been in prison ever since. Mohammadi has been arrested a total of 13 times, has been tried five times, and has been sentenced to more than 32 years of imprisonment and 154 lashes, according to her foundation.
