Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Turns 53
April 21, 2025 – Paris, France
After Many Birthdays Behind Bars, This Year Narges Mohammadi Marks 53rd Birthday Out of Prison
Today, April 21, 2025, Nobel Peace Laureate and human rights defender Narges Mohammadi turns 53 — spending her birthday outside prison for the first time in years, following a temporary suspension of her sentence granted after a serious surgery late last year.
In November 2024, Mohammadi underwent major surgery to remove a tumor from her leg after doctors discovered a suspected cancerous lesion. Despite her critical condition, she was returned to Evin Prison just days later, against medical advice and legal appeals. Her condition deteriorated rapidly in the overcrowded women’s ward.
Following pressure from her legal team and confirmation by the Forensic Medicine Organization that she required urgent care unavailable in prison, Mohammadi was granted a 21-day sentence suspension on December 4, 2024. She was transferred home with an ambulance to recover, but since then, Iranian authorities have repeatedly ordered her return to prison—most recently on February 28, 2025.
Her doctors have advised at least six more months of medical leave for regular checkups, physical therapy, and treatment of cardiac and liver complications. They warn that returning her to prison would pose serious risks to her health.
Despite the mounting pressure—including harassment of friends and fellow activists—Mohammadi remains out of prison in an act of civil disobedience, refusing to legitimize the unjust actions of the regime.
Narges Mohammadi has spent more than 10 years of her life behind bars, 135 days at solitary confinement cells and is currently serving sentences of 13 years and nine months in prison, on multiple charges including committing “propaganda activity against the state” and “collusion against state security.” she has been sentenced to more than 36 years of prison time in total while being the recipient of numerous international awards for her struggle for human rights, including the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, the 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, and the 2022 Reporters Without Borders Prize for Courage.
We urge international human rights organizations, civil society actors, and advocates for human and women’s rights to call for the extension of Narges Mohammadi’s medical leave, an end to all forms of harassment, and her unconditional release with all charges dropped.
This is the Foundation team’s birthday letter to Narges Mohammadi:
Our Dearest Narges,
April 21st marks your 53rd birthday — a day to celebrate your strength, your voice, and the light you continue to shine, inside or outside of prison.
At the Narges Foundation, we remain in our commitment to the values you embody and fight for:
An end to executions and the death penalty.
Equality, freedom, and democracy.
The recognition and criminalization of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Liberty in Iran, throughout the Middle East, and beyond.
An end to war and its devastating toll on innocent lives.
A peaceful transition from the Islamic Republic to a democratic future.
A world where no woman dies for being a woman — an end to femicide.
Peace, dignity, and justice for all.
Self-determination for every Iranian.
Freedom for all political prisoners.
We thank you.
We stand with you.
We will continue to amplify your fight — because your struggle is ours.
On your birthday, we wish you unconditional freedom — and a future where no activist ever again sees the inside of a prison.
Together, we will win.
With love and solidarity,
The Narges Foundation Team
Paris – France
21th April 2025
