Narges Mohammadi, is the former vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an NGO founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and co-founder of the group ‘Step by Step to Stop the Death Penalty’, a coalition aiming to abolish death penalty in Iran. Mohamadi, despite suffering from various health complications, has been a prominent voice for human rights and advocate for victims of right violations inside the country.
In March 2015, Mohammadi was the target of intense attacks by Iranian hardliners after she met with Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, in the Austrian Embassy in Tehran to discuss human rights concerns. Gohar Eshghi, the mother of Sattar Beheshti, a blogger died in the custody of Iran’s cyberpolice in 2012, accompanied Mohamad in the meeting.