Iranian rights groups said security forces detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and several other activists during a memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said Mohammadi was arrested on Friday while attending the seventh-day mourning ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a prominent human rights lawyer whose recent death has drawn public anger.
Alikordi, a former political prisoner who represented jailed protesters, was found dead under unclear circumstances in his office in Mashhad last week, with fellow lawyers and activists questioning the official account of cardiac arrest and alleging possible security force involvement.
"The Narges Foundation has received credible information that Narges Mohammadi was violently detained by security and police forces," it wrote on X.
"Unconfirmed reports indicate that Sepideh Qolian, Hasti Amiri, Pouran Nazemi, Alieh Motalebzadeh, and several other human rights activists were also arrested at the scene," it added.
Javad Alikordi, the lawyer’s brother, said in an audio message that security forces beat Mohammadi and Gholian before taking them away. He said detainees were transferred to a detention facility linked to the intelligence arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Mashhad.
It was not immediately possible for Iran International to verify his account.
Mohammadi, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights defenders, has repeatedly said she faces serious threats from Iranian security agencies. In August, she told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine that intelligence agents had issued direct and indirect death threats against her.
The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said at the time that Mohammadi had warned her life was in danger, citing what she described as threats of “physical elimination” by state agents.
Mohammadi has accused Iranian authorities of intensifying pressure on civil society since the June ceasefire with Israel, saying repression of activists, journalists and critics has deepened.
Rights groups say Iran remains one of the world’s most restrictive environments for free expression, with activists frequently detained, prosecuted and imprisoned.
Mohammadi, who is serving a combined 13-year and nine-month prison sentence on national security charges, has been on medical furlough from Tehran’s Evin Prison. She has said she will not return voluntarily and that any re-arrest would amount to civil disobedience.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on the sidelines of the International Forum for Peace and Trust in the capital Ashgabat, an unusual gathering in one of the world’s most closed states.
Putin said Moscow and Tehran remain in close contact on major international issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
“We are in close contact on all key international issues, including all matters related to the Iranian nuclear program. You know our position: we support Iran at the UN,” Putin said, adding that the foreign ministers of the two countries are “in constant contact.”
He said Russia and Iran are negotiating cooperation in the gas and electricity sectors and will work together on energy transmission projects.
“We are holding talks in the gas and power sectors, and cooperation in energy transfer will take shape,” he said.
He added that relations between the two countries are expanding steadily. “Our relations are developing day by day,” Putin said, pointing to plans to advance the North–South transport corridor linking Russia to South Asia via Iran.
Putin also cited plans to expand cooperation at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which was built by Russia.
Broader strategic ties
The meeting comes as Tehran and Moscow deepen strategic cooperation under Western sanctions. Earlier this month, the two countries signed a new agreement covering artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, expanding collaboration in digital infrastructure, data transit and e-government.
Iran and Russia have also worked closely on space projects. Tehran has said three Iranian satellites will be launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket later this month, following earlier launches carried out with Russian support.
