Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Freed Iranian Dissident in Good Mental State, Needs Medical Monitoring, Husband Says

Freed Iranian Dissident in Good Mental State, Needs Medical Monitoring, Husband Says

Iran has freed a prominent female dissident jailed since 2015, her husband and state media say, following a yearslong campaign by international rights activists demanding an end to what they described as her unjust and cruel detention.

Journalist and human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi, 48, was released from a prison in the northwestern city of Zanjan early Thursday, according to a tweet from her husband, Taghi Rahmani, who lives in exile in Paris with the couple’s two children.

 

In the tweet, Rahmani said he heard from relatives in Iran that his wife was released at 3 a.m. local time.

Iranian state media also quoted a judicial official as saying Mohammadi was released Thursday as part of a commutation of her 10-year prison term.

Speaking to VOA Persian, Rahmani said family members in Iran told him that his wife apparently was woken up and informed of her release shortly before being allowed to leave the prison. “She currently is in a good mental state, but given her health problems in prison, she should be monitored by doctors,” he said.

Rahmani made no further comment on Twitter by late Thursday regarding whether he had spoken directly to his wife.

In an August message to VOA, Rahmani said Mohammadi needed specialized medical care outside of prison for a lung disease and weakened immune system following surgeries in 2018 and 2019, as well as for beatings that she apparently sustained while being transferred to Zanjan prison in December.

London-based rights group Amnesty International (AI) has said Iranian authorities violently transferred Mohammadi to Zanjan from Tehran’s Evin prison, where she had been incarcerated since her arrest in May 2015. She was working as a spokesperson for Iranian dissident group Center for Human Rights Defenders at the time of her detention.

Rahmani’s August message also said his wife appeared to have recovered from coronavirus symptoms that she began experiencing in July. She reported those symptoms in a letter sent from prison to her supporters.

In his latest comments, Rahmani credited Mohammadi’s lawyers for helping to secure her freedom.

"There is no place for any civil or political activist in prison, and I wish that all such prisoners would have been included in this release," he said.

AI welcomed news of Mohammadi’s release via Twitter.


“She should never have been unjustly jailed for over 5 years for her peaceful human rights activism. Many thanks to everyone across the globe who worked tirelessly for her release!” the group wrote.

Rahmani expressed hope that authorities would not bar his wife from leaving Iran to visit him and their children in France. He noted that their son and daughter haven’t seen Mohammadi for five years.

In July, Rahmani tweeted a video clip of his daughter, Kiana, and son, Ali, appealing for help in order to reconnect with their mother, whom Iranian authorities apparently barred from speaking with them by phone.


In the clip, also shared by AI, Ali said he and his sister hadn’t heard Mohammadi’s voice for 11 months.

“She should have the right to come and see her children,” Rahmani said. "What sin did her children commit that they should be deprived of a visit from their mother?”

Iranian authorities said they detained Mohammadi in 2015 to resume her six-year prison sentence from 2011 related to her peaceful human rights work. She was arrested and released several times in the six years preceding her 2015 incarceration.

Iran’s judiciary sentenced Mohammadi again in 2016 to a 16-year jail term for involvement with another peaceful advocacy group, the Campaign for Step by Step Abolition of the Death Penalty. Under Iranian law, the effective length of her sentence was reduced to 10 years.

This year, Iranian authorities filed several new national security-related charges against Mohammadi for her peaceful human rights activism inside prison.

Rahmani told VOA the outcome of those investigations was not yet clear, and his wife’s lawyers continue their work on her defense.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×