Threat looms over Narges Mohammadi amid ongoing intimidation from state-affiliated actors

Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi has received a series of serious threats to her safety and life from agents affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s  Ministry of Intelligence. The Free Narges Coalition Steering Committee has received this information and is highly concerned that these threats from both direct and indirect sources pose a grave risk to Mohammadi, and call on the Iranian authorities to ensure her security.

The recent series of threats, which started on 13 June, occurred in the context of the war between Israel and Iran from 13 to 25 June 2025 and a wider crackdown on activists and dissenting voices, which have recently been covered by Front Line Defenders, PEN America, the UN experts, and others.

Narges Mohammadi received indirect threats including to her life and safety from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOI) on the 19, 21, and 25 June 2025. In one instance, they informed the woman human rights defender via an ex-inmate that they are aware of intelligence regarding “rogue actors,” not run or controlled by the MOI, who are looking for Mohammadi’s whereabouts and intend to “waste” her when they find her. Mohammadi also received another message from the MOI via another friend (for the third time via indirect channels) that there is an ongoing project to “eliminate her.” 

On 7 July 2025, Mohammadi’s lawyer received a phone call from the MOI warning the human rights defender against conducting media interviews, mobilizing rights groups, publishing statements, and other human rights and freedom of speech activities. They threatened Mohammadi with a “different approach” this time and asked her lawyer to relay the message to her that there will be no more “Islamic compassion” dealing with her going forward. 

In early July 2025, human rights defenders and friends of Narges Mohammadi were summoned by the MOI and were threatened with arrest and prison for themselves and their family members, should they continue to provide her with shelter and company. 

The Free Narges Coalition Steering Committee said: “The recent threats against Narges Mohammadi mark a dramatic escalation in the tactics used to silence one of Iran’s most prominent voices of conscience and defender of human rights. The right of all Iranians to be able to speak out freely, to call for peace, and to highlight the grave threats to political prisoners and all civilians during a time of war should not make them a target. We strongly urge the Iranian authorities to extend assurances that Mohammadi’s security will be made a high priority, and that her life and safety are not at risk. Moreover, we continue to call for Mohammadi’s unconditional freedom given that she has been unjustly imprisoned for her free expression and human rights work. It is the responsibility of all states and the international community to commit to protecting human rights defenders in the context of the escalation.”

The Nobel laureate has been on a suspension of her prison sentence since December 2024 following surgery in mid-November, in accordance with recommendations from her doctors that she be granted an extended leave in order to recover from the surgery, conduct monitoring of a bone lesion in her leg, and receive specialized cardiac care and treatment for other longstanding conditions which have been exacerbated by her extended periods of incarceration. Since her temporary release in early December, Mohammadi has been targeted by a state-backed online harassment and disinformation campaign pushing for her to be returned to jail – or even sent to a prison outside Tehran with unhygienic living conditions – in retaliation for her continuous human rights work, activism, and writing while she has been temporarily freed.

Narges Mohammadi is a human rights defender, author, journalist, and deputy director and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran. Mohammadi has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison, most recently from November 2021 to December 2024, in relation to sentences totalling more than 13 years on charges including committing “propaganda activity against the state” and “collusion against state security.” She is the recipient of numerous international awards for her tireless struggle for human rights, including the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, and the 2022 Reporters Without Borders Prize for Courage.

This statement is issued by the Free Narges Coalition Steering Committee, and does not necessarily reflect the position of all Coalition members. The Steering Committee is led by the Narges Foundation, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and Front Line Defenders.

For more information or to get involved, visit: www.narges.foundation/freenarges. Contact the Steering Committee members: Narges Foundation, info@narges.foundation; Karin Deutsch Karlekar, PEN America, kdkarlekar@pen.org; Jonathan Dagher, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), jdagher@rsf.org; and Front Line Defenders, campaigns@frontlinedefenders.org.

Join us in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Narges Mohammadi. #FreeNarges!