Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent Iranian activist, has been granted a temporary three-week release from prison on medical grounds, her lawyer announced.
“Based on the advice of the examining doctor, the public prosecutor suspended the jail sentence against Narges Mohammadi for three weeks and she was released from prison,” attorney Mostafa Nili wrote on X.
Mohammadi left Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday, chanting the protest slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom,” her husband Taghi Rahmani said. Rahmani told reporters, “She came out in a good state of mind, a combative state despite her very fragile state of health.”
Despite her three-week release, Mohammadi’s supporters and family criticized the brief release as insufficient. “A 21-day suspension of Narges Mohammadi’s sentence is inadequate. We demand Narges Mohammadi’s immediate and unconditional release or at least an extension of her leave to three months,” they said in a statement.
According to The Guardian, Mohammadi has been imprisoned since November 2021 for convictions linked to her activism against capital punishment and mandatory hijab laws in Iran. Following her receipt of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, she was handed an additional 15-month sentence for allegedly spreading propaganda against the state while in prison.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awarded her the prize for her fight for women’s rights and freedom, also joined calls for her permanent release.
“We demand, as we have done before, that she is not only released from prison for 21 days for medical treatment, but released forever,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Nobel Committee, according to AFP. He also expressed concern about her health, describing her condition as “severe, most likely cancer.”
“The issue is, of course, that these 21 days are most likely not enough for adequate treatment,” he explained.
