Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was violently detained after attending a memorial service for a human rights lawyer, told her family she has been accused of cooperating with the Israeli government, according to her X account.
Mohammadi said during a brief phone call on Sunday night that she does not know which security agency arrested her, the post on her X account said.
She added that she was beaten with batons during the arrest on Friday and has since been taken to the emergency room twice due to the severity of her injuries.
Mohammadi and several other activists were arrested during a heated gathering of mourners attending a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
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 involvement by security forces.
"Khosrow Alikardi was devoted to freedom and justice, but he never bowed his head to oppression," Mohamadi told attendees in a speech.
The Nobel laureate whose arrest sparked international outcry said during the phone call that she was attacked with repeated, heavy baton blows to the head and neck and was then violently detained.
"At the same time as the beating, she was threatened and told, “We will put your mother in mourning.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday condemned her arrest and called on Tehran to "specify Mohammadi’s place of detention, ensure her safety and well-being and release her unconditionally."
Her foundation posted online that activists Sepideh Qolian, Pouran Nazemi, Hasti Amiri and Aliyeh Motalebzadeh were also arrested, among others.
Mashhad governor Hassan Hosseini told state media that the arrests were made for the detainees' safety as the crowd turned unruly.
"This was done to protect them, because in such circumstances other groups might also take confrontational action. For this reason, the prosecutor’s office intervened to ensure that no problems would arise for these individuals," he told state media.
Published by researchers at Islamic Azad University, the peer-reviewed paper appears in Social Problems of Iran (Autumn 2025) and uses grounded-theory interviews with 15 women (2022–23) to map causal drivers, intervening factors, strategies, and outcomes.
The authors report that cutting persists within kinship networks that link family honor to control over female sexuality, while misinformation and limited access to alternative medical or religious views reinforce continuity.
“The central category indicates the impact of religious and family institutions in the continuation and reproduction of the traditional pattern,” the paper said, adding that “local customs outweigh religious mandates, with religion serving more as a legitimizing discourse.”
They say women’s responses evolve from silence and avoidance in childhood to negotiation, alliance-building and seeking medical advice in adulthood, with education, urbanization and social-media advocacy widening pathways to change.
Reported outcomes include physical pain, reduced sexual satisfaction, traumatic recall and social withdrawal. “FGM causes physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women.”
According to the paper, common misconceptions about the practice include beliefs that FGM preserves a girl’s “purity,” prevents immoral behavior or is a religious obligation.
“I had no idea what circumcision was until they did this to us,” said one 42-year-old participant.
Another woman described the experience as sudden and violent. “I was confused and completely unprepared. Like a chicken you grab to slaughter. Two female relatives held me down, tightly gripping my arms and legs, and then they took out the blade.”
FGM is practiced in several regions of Iran, particularly in western and southern provinces including Hormozgan, Kordestan, Kermanshah, West Azarbaijan, Ilam and Lorestan.
There is no comprehensive national data on its prevalence, but small-scale studies have reported varying rates across these areas.
The most common form documented in Iran is Type I FGM, involving partial or total removal of the clitoris or prepuce. Procedures are typically carried out by traditional midwives or elderly women using basic tools such as razor blades, often without anesthesia.
Iranian law does not explicitly criminalize FGM. There have been no known prosecutions, and official responses have largely been muted.
The detentions took place during a seventh-day memorial ceremony that drew activists and supporters, some of whom later gathered outside the venue and chanted slogans including “Death to the Dictator” and phrases backing Iran’s pre-1979 monarchy, according to videos posted online.
The memorial was held for Khosrow Alikordi, a prominent rights lawyer and former political prisoner who represented detained protesters. He was found dead in his office in Mashhad last week. Supporters and fellow lawyers have questioned the official account of his death, while Iranian authorities say forensic examinations show he died of a heart attack.
“The seventh-day memorial was held with full cooperation of the responsible bodies,” Mashhad public prosecutor Hassan Hemmati-Far said, adding that authorities allowed funeral and memorial ceremonies to go ahead in Mashhad and the nearby city of Sabzevar.
He said the situation changed after the ceremony ended, when a gathering formed outside the mosque. Hemmati-Far said Javad Alikordi, the lawyer’s brother, along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and activist Sepideh Gholian, addressed the crowd from atop a vehicle.
“By making provocative remarks, they encouraged those present to chant norm-breaking slogans and disrupt public order,” Hemmati-Far said.
Authorities said police later intervened to manage the scene and that two officers were injured. Hemmati-Far said the incident led to the detention of 39 people.
Families, activists dispute official account
Families of some detainees and rights activists have disputed the authorities’ account, saying those arrested were subjected to violence during detention and have since been held without contact with relatives or access to lawyers.
According to family members, several detainees, including Mohammadi, were beaten during arrest. Mohammadi’s brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, told AFP she was “beaten on the legs and grabbed by the hair,” adding that her past medical conditions made her detention a serious concern.
“Immediate and full access to medical facilities must be provided, independent and impartial complaints must be registered against those responsible for beatings, threats and insults, and all injured detainees must be sent without delay to forensic medical authorities,” the Narges Mohammadi Foundation wrote in a statement.
Authorities also said Javad Alikordi later left the scene but was arrested hours afterward after posting videos online that officials described as containing false statements.
Hemmati-Far said all detainees were being held in a legal detention facility and that investigations were continuing.
Rights groups and activists say at least several dozen people remain in detention in what they described as incommunicado conditions. Iranian authorities deny wrongdoing and say detainees’ rights are being respected.
