Narges Mohammadi Faces Hospital Care Plea After 19kg Loss
Narges Mohammadi’s family says the 54-year-old Iranian Nobel laureate is in immediate danger after her health worsened in Zanjan central prison in north-west Iran. Her legal team is seeking a one-month medical suspension after a suspected heart attack last month, and relatives say prison doctors cannot manage her condition safely.
Her family says she has lost more than 19kg, was found unconscious in her cell, and has suffered persistent chest pain, loss of consciousness and extreme weight loss. The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said her blood pressure had fluctuated dangerously for the past three days and was showing no response to medication.
Hamidreza Mohammadi on prison care
Hamidreza Mohammadi, her Oslo-based brother, said the family was shattered. “The specialists have been clear: keeping her in that prison, under that immense stress and those brutal conditions, is like a death sentence. They can’t even adjust her medication because it’s too dangerous without her full medical team present. We are not just fighting for her freedom any more; we are fighting for her heart to keep beating.”
Cardiology specialists familiar with her case said she requires urgent, specialised medical care. Doctors said her cardiac history includes multiple previous angioplasties, and that any further surgery must be carried out by her own doctors in a fully equipped hospital in Tehran. They said the facilities in Zanjan are inadequate.
Kiana Rahmani in Paris
Kiana Rahmani, her Paris-based daughter, said: “My mother’s body is simply exhausted. After more than 10 years behind bars and so many hunger strikes, her heart is struggling; she already has a stent from a previous surgery, and now she faces daily headaches, high blood pressure and constant chest pains.”
Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize while in prison, was released for health reasons in 2024, and was re-arrested in December 2025 during the memorial service of a fellow human rights activist. Before that arrest she had already spent more than a decade behind bars, and a February 2026 sentence added seven and a half years to her prison term on charges that included collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran’s government.
Ali calls for release
Her son Ali said: “She is incredibly brave, like all the other women and people of Iran, and I admire all of them. The Islamic republic must release all political prisoners in Iran immediately.” His comments place the case back at the center of the wider crackdown that followed Mohammadi’s support for the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
The next step is in the hands of the authorities holding her in Zanjan central prison and the doctors pressing for medical suspension. If they refuse, her family says the current detention conditions leave no safe margin for the cardiac care her specialists say she needs.
