Iran's imprisoned human rights champion fights for her life amid allegations of systematic medical neglect
Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian human rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remains in critical condition in a hospital in northwestern Iran, prompting urgent international calls for her immediate release and transfer to specialized medical care. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, Amnesty International, and her family have all warned that her life is in imminent danger.
Mohammadi, 54, was transferred on May 2 from Zanjan Prison — where she has been held since her arrest in December 2025 — to a local hospital in the city of Zanjan, a provincial capital northwest of Tehran, after what the Narges Mohammadi Foundation described as a "catastrophic deterioration" in her physical condition. According to the foundation, she suffered two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a severe cardiac crisis before prison officials agreed to move her.
The crisis had been escalating for months. On March 24, fellow inmates found Mohammadi unconscious in her cell. Her lawyers, who visited her days later, reported that a prison doctor had concluded she had most likely suffered a heart attack. Despite her serious condition, she was treated only in the prison infirmary and denied transfer to a proper hospital. She has endured chest pain and breathing difficulties ever since.
The foundation described the hospital transfer as coming "after 140 days of systematic medical neglect" since her arrest on December 12, 2025. Her family called it a "last-minute move" and expressed fear it may have come "too late."
A Dire Medical Picture
As of Sunday, May 4, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation reported that her blood pressure continues to fluctuate dangerously and that treatment has been limited to oxygen therapy and basic stabilisation measures. Her attorney, Mustafa Nili, said that despite serious heart problems, addressing her neurological condition has now become the clinical priority. The foundation stressed that "effective treatment is only possible if she is transferred to her medical team in Tehran" — a move Iranian authorities have so far refused to authorize.
Her brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, who lives in Oslo, Norway, told the BBC he wakes each day bracing for "the worst possible phone call." He accused Iranian authorities of deliberately withholding essential medical care, and alleged that prosecutors in Zanjan are "blocking everything" his family tries to do for her. "I have no doubt the regime simply wants to get rid of people like Narges," he said.
Global Outcry
The Norwegian Nobel Committee issued an urgent statement on Saturday, calling on Iranian authorities to release Mohammadi immediately so she can receive proper care. Jørgen Watne Frydnes, head of the committee, warned that her life is in imminent danger and stressed that Iranian authorities bear full responsibility for her safety.
Amnesty International also called for her immediate and unconditional release, documenting what it described as torture and ill-treatment since the beginning of her current detention, including beatings during her arrest that caused visible injuries. The organization further noted that prisoners in Zanjan face additional security risks due to explosions occurring near the facility.
Hamidreza Mohammadi also criticized what he described as broader international silence, suggesting that geopolitical interests — including oil and trade routes — have overshadowed concern for human rights: "It seems oil is more important than freedom."
Background
Mohammadi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while imprisoned, recognized for her decades-long campaign for women's rights, her activism against the Iranian government's use of torture and sexual violence, and her advocacy to abolish the death penalty. She has been arrested 13 times and sentenced to a cumulative total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Her most recent arrest came in December 2025, when she was detained while attending a memorial ceremony for a human rights lawyer in Mashhad. In February 2026, an Iranian court added a further seven and a half years to her sentence.
Iranian officials have not publicly responded to allegations of medical neglect or to the international calls for her release.
Artwork: Perplexity