Relatives of jailed Iranian human rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi, along with the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, are demanding she be transferred to adequate medical facilities after her health reportedly took a sharp turn for the worse. On Friday, her family announced that the 54-year-old had been moved from her prison in northwest Iran to a local hospital, describing the action as a 'last-minute' gesture that might be too little, too late.
Her brother, speaking from Norway on Saturday, told the BBC: 'Her blood pressure has dropped sharply, and they haven't been able to stabilise it.' Mohammadi, awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested in December for criticizing the authorities. Last month, her brother Hamidreza Mohammadi revealed she had been found unconscious by fellow inmates at Zanjan Prison after a suspected heart attack, with prison officials refusing hospital transfer despite her history of cardiac, lung, and blood pressure issues.
On Friday, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation stated she was moved to a hospital in Zanjan province 'following a catastrophic deterioration in her health,' after '140 days of arbitrary detention and the persistent denial of specialised healthcare.' Hamidreza Mohammadi noted her current problems include low blood pressure and a heart attack, but previous conditions like pulmonary embolism and having undergone stenting and angiography make treatment by local doctors 'effectively impossible.' He called for her transfer to Tehran so her own specialists can take over.
Jorgen Watne Frydnes, head of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, echoed the call, telling Reuters that Mohammadi's life remains at risk. Over her lifetime, she has been arrested 13 times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. In December 2024, she was temporarily released from Tehran's Evin prison on medical grounds but was arrested again in Mashhad after giving a speech at a memorial ceremony. Her family says she was beaten during that arrest. In early February, a Revolutionary Court added another seven-and-a-half years for 'gathering and collusion' and 'propaganda activities,' and she was transferred without warning to Zanjan prison, with limited family communication since.