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Iranian Security Forces Disrupt Memorial in Mashhad, Detain Narges Mohammadi and Dozens [[link removed]]
Iranian security forces violently disrupted a seventh-day memorial ceremony for Khosro Alikordi, a prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, in Mashhad on December 12, 2025, arresting dozens of participants and using excessive force against mourners. According to the Mashhad Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office, at least 39 people were detained during and after the ceremony. However, human rights groups and eyewitnesses report that the total number of detainees exceeds 50, including well-known civil society activists, lawyers, and human rights defenders.
The memorial ceremony, held in accordance with deeply rooted cultural and religious mourning traditions, was marked by a heavy security presence, including uniformed forces and plainclothes agents. Videos and eyewitness accounts from the scene show security forces violently attacking participants, deploying tear gas, and forcibly dispersing mourners. Footage circulating on social media documents clashes between security forces and attendees, underscoring the authorities’ growing intolerance of peaceful assembly even in the context of mourning.
Among those arrested was Nobel Peace Prize laureate and prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi. According to a statement released by her family, Mohammadi was violently attacked and arrested outside the mosque hosting the memorial ceremony. After nearly three days of enforced disappearance and no information regarding her whereabouts, Mohammadi made a brief and highly compressed phone call to her family late on December 14, 2025. In that call, she described being assaulted by approximately 15 plainclothes agents who struck her repeatedly with batons, primarily targeting her head and neck. During the attack, agents reportedly threatened her, stating, “We will put your mother into mourning,” which her family characterized as a direct death threat.
Mohammadi told her family that the intensity and repetition of the blows were so severe that she was transferred twice to hospital emergency rooms following her arrest. At the time of the call, her physical condition was poor, and she sounded unwell. She emphasized that she had not been informed which security authority was detaining her, and that no explanation had been provided regarding the legal basis for her arrest. According to her account, during and after the arrest she was accused of “cooperating with the Israeli government,” a charge frequently used by Iranian authorities to justify severe repression against dissidents. Mohammadi further stated that the same so-called “self-authorized” forces involved in her arrest had previously warned her lawyers in Tehran that they intended to carry out her “physical elimination.” During the call, she asked her legal team to immediately file a formal complaint against the detaining authority and the violent manner of her arrest.
Other detained activists have also reported violence, restricted contact with their families, and a lack of transparency regarding their detention. Family members of Alieh Motalebzadeh, Pouran Nazemi, and Hasti Amiri have confirmed that these activists were arrested during the memorial and later permitted only brief, monitored phone calls. According to Ghazal Abdollahi, daughter of Alieh Motalebzadeh, her mother was initially held by the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and later transferred to the Mashhad Intelligence Office. During this transfer, due to injuries sustained as a result of beatings, she was examined by a doctor and received initial medical care.
Marzieh Adinehzadeh, whose father is among those detained, reported publicly that he has been charged with “propaganda against the regime” and “assembly and collusion,” charges that Iranian authorities routinely use to criminalize peaceful expression and assembly.
The events in Mashhad have also prompted condemnation from Iranian civil society figures inside the country. In a statement issued on December 14, 1404, a group of Iranian activists, intellectuals, artists, and former political prisoners called for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained at the seventh-day memorial for Khosro Alikordi, including Narges Mohammadi. The signatories described the events as a stark illustration of the deteriorating state of freedom and personal security in Iran, emphasizing that rather than protecting citizens’ right to mourn and ensuring public safety, security forces resorted to violence and mass arrests.
The statement stressed that the detentions cannot credibly be framed as a response to “disruptions to public order,” but instead reflect a deliberate and ongoing effort to suppress civil society and silence voices demanding human dignity, self-determination, and peaceful change. The signatories held Iranian authorities fully responsible for any physical or psychological harm inflicted on detainees. Among those who signed the statement were Mostafa Tajzadeh, Saeed Madani, Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof, Abdolfattah Soltani, Abdollah Momeni, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Mohammad Habibi, Mohammad Najafi, and Mehdi Mahmoudian, alongside numerous other civil society figures.
The events in Mashhad raise grave concerns under international human rights law. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and is obligated to uphold the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and protection from arbitrary arrest and detention. The violent suppression of a mourning ceremony, the use of excessive force, the denial of information regarding detainees’ whereabouts, and the reported beatings and medical neglect constitute serious violations of these obligations. The treatment of Narges Mohammadi, in particular, raises urgent concerns about the risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, especially given her medical condition and prior threats against her life.
The crackdown on Khosro Alikordi’s memorial reflects a broader and deeply troubling pattern in Iran in which authorities target funerals and mourning ceremonies associated with activists or victims of repression, treating collective grief as a security threat. By criminalizing mourning and violently repressing peaceful assemblies, Iranian authorities seek to intimidate families, silence civil society, and prevent public solidarity.
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) strongly condemns the violent arrests, excessive use of force, and arbitrary detention of mourners and activists in Mashhad. NIAC reiterates its calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Narges Mohammadi and all others detained alongside her, solely for exercising their fundamental rights. Iranian authorities must immediately disclose the location and legal status of all detainees, ensure access to legal counsel, family members, and independent medical care, and end the practice of criminalizing peaceful assembly and mourning.
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This is an email from the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). NIAC's Human Rights Tracker [[link removed]] is part of our efforts to spotlight human rights in Iran as a means of holding the Iranian government accountable. As an American organization, we don't have a role to play in the domestic affairs of Iran. But we do have an obligation to support international human rights standards to which the U.S. and Iran are party.
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