Iranian authorities beat the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi so severely after detaining her last week that she was taken twice to an emergency room for her injuries, according to a statement released by her family on Monday.

Security forces detained Ms. Mohammadi, an outspoken human rights campaigner in Iran, along with several other prominent activists, at a memorial service last Friday in northeastern Iran. The authorities confirmed her arrest and on Monday, her husband, Taghi Rahmani, said she was being held at a detention facility operated by the Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Mashhad.

Mr. Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris, said he had spoken to Ms. Mohammadi on Sunday, during which time, she said she had been told that she had been accused of cooperating with the Israeli government.

“She didn’t sound well on the phone,” Mr. Rahmani said. “We are extremely worried about her health, she has many underlying health issues and we demand that an independent doctor examine her.”

In a post to Ms. Mohammadi’s social media accounts on Monday, her family said she told them she was beaten on the head and neck as she was detained. Her assailants vowed to send her “mother into mourning,” a comment the family described as a “direct death threat.”

Charges related to collaborating with Israel could be of grave significance for her. In the wake of the brief war Israel waged against Iran last June, the authorities have expanded the use of the death penalty for charges of collaboration with Israel.

Iranian authorities did not respond to a request for comment. But the general prosecutor in Mashhad, the city where she was detained, told the state news agency Tasnim that Ms. Mohammedi and the other detainees were “being held in a lawful detention facility with their citizens’ rights respected” as a legal investigation was conducted.

The prosecutor, Hassan Hemmatifar, said last Friday that “the legal process of the case will continue with precision, speed and decisiveness, and further updates will be communicated to the public.”

According to Ms. Mohammadi’s family, she told them she was twice sent to an emergency room for treatment for the blows she received.

“She emphasized that she does not even know which security authority is currently detaining her, and that no explanation has been given in this regard,” the family wrote. “Her physical condition at the time of the call was not good, and she appeared unwell.”

Ms. Mohammadi and 10 other prominent activists were arrested during a funeral for the human rights lawyer Khosrow Ali Kordi, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Mr. Ali Kordi’s family and rights groups had already raised questions about the circumstances of his death, saying he may have been killed.

Mr. Kordi’s brother, Javad Ali Kordi, who is also a lawyer, used Instagram Live to stream what was happening at the memorial, and was arrested hours later, the rights group said.

Condemnation over the arrests has poured in from human rights groups, the European Union and the Nobel committee. The 2025 Nobel Peace laureate, María Corina Machado, called for the “immediate and unconditional release of Narges Mohammadi and all others detained at the memorial.”

The arrests stand in sharp contrast to the government’s growing tolerance in recent months of social freedoms, like public singalong concerts or women appearing in public without head scarves.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/world/middleeast/narge-mohammadi-iran-beating.html