Supporters of jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi are warning she could die in prison unless she receives urgent medical care. The 54-year-old activist, who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights advocacy, has suffered two suspected heart attacks in recent weeks, one on March 24 and another on May 1.
Her lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, said Mohammadi is now "between life and death" and experiencing an "unprecedented degradation" of her health. Mohammadi has lost 44 pounds in prison, has difficulty speaking, and is "unrecognizable" from her condition before her latest arrest.
Ardakani compared Mohammadi's plight to that of Chinese dissident Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died under guard in 2017, and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison camp in 2024.
Mohammadi was arrested most recently in December after denouncing the Islamic republic at a lawyer's funeral. She is currently hospitalized in Zanjan under constant guard. Supporters want her transferred to Tehran for treatment by her personal medical team.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said Iranian authorities are putting Mohammadi's life "at risk by subjecting her to torture or other ill-treatment through deliberate denial of timely and adequate specialized healthcare."
Mohammadi's twin teenage children, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, who live in Paris, have not seen their mother for over a decade. They received the Nobel prize on her behalf.