Nobel Laureate Mohammadi Faces Health Crisis After Beating

Imprisoned Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi is facing a severe health crisis, exacerbated by brutal beatings during her December arrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad, according to reports from her family and the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Mohammadi, 53, was detained on December 12 while attending a memorial for a deceased human rights lawyer. Plainclothes security agents assaulted her before she finished her speech, striking her with wooden sticks and batons, dragging her by the hair and causing scalp wounds, and kicking her repeatedly in the pelvis and genital area, the Nobel Committee stated Wednesday, citing credible accounts from inside Iran. The attack continued in a transport vehicle, leaving her with injuries that prevent her from sitting or moving without intense pain and raising fears of fractures. Her husband, Taghi Rahmani, speaking from exile in Paris, said details emerged from fellow detainees released from the same facility. He described her physical condition as very severe, with bruises across her body and a worsening heart ailment.

Mohammadi has endured limited contact since her arrest, managing only a brief...