ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent Iranian human rights activist, has been detained for five days, with concerns over her physical condition amid international criticism of Iranian authorities over her and several other activists’ arrest.

Mohammadi was rearrested on Friday while attending a memorial event in Iran’s Mashhad, a year after obtaining temporary release from the notorious Evin Prison. 

She was arrested on the seventh day of a memorial for Khosrow Alikordi, an Iranian human rights lawyer who died at age 46 under unclear circumstances in his office, prompting fellow lawyers and activists to blame Tehran for his death.

While speaking briefly by phone with her family, Mohammadi said she was arrested by “plainclothes agents,” and was reportedly struck with “baton blows to the head and neck” during her arrest, according to a statement from her website on Monday.

“​​The intensity of the blows was so heavy, forceful, and repeated that she was taken to the hospital emergency room twice,” the statement said. 

The activist noted that she has not been informed which security force is holding her following her arrest.

The security forces accused Mohammadi of “cooperating with the Israeli government,” the statement added. 

Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism in support of women’s rights in Iran and against gender-based oppression.

In addition to Mohammadi, the authorities arrested dozens others at the Mashhad event, prompting a wave of criticism from the local and international civil society.

The US State Department on Tuesday expressed concern over the arrests, saying at least 39 people were detained while attending Alikordi’s memorial, and claiming that some “were beaten with batons during their arrests,” according to a statement posted on the department’s Farsi account on X.

“The brutal repression in Iran has been ongoing for 46 years and is a gross violation of human rights. We demand the immediate release of the detainees,” it added. 

Under an order from Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand, four senior Iranian officials were sanctioned on Monday following the crackdown. The officials were accused of being “involved in gross and systematic human rights violations” and for playing “a significant role in facilitating and directing repressive policies,” according to a ministry statement.

Mohammadi has been arrested over a dozen times by Iranian authorities and has been sentenced to more than 36 years in prison on charges related to threatening national security and spreading propaganda against the state.

Her most recent arrest was in 2016, where she was sentenced to serve more than 30 years in Evin on multiple charges. She was temporarily released in early December 2024 for three weeks to recover from medical operation to remove a benign tumor. She was expected to return to prison and complete her prison sentence following that period.