Mohammadi’s urgent transfer to a hospital in northwestern Iran was announced by her foundation on Friday, following what it described as a severe deterioration in her health while in custody. The Narges Mohammadi Foundation said the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate was moved from prison after her condition worsened to the point that she could not be treated on site.
The foundation said Mohammadi suffered two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and faced a severe cardiac crisis. It said the episodes followed a worsening health situation in prison, prompting the transfer to a hospital in Zanjan, according to the foundation’s account.
The foundation attributed the timing of the hospital transfer to what it called prolonged failures in care, saying it came “after 140 days of systematic medical neglect” since Mohammadi was arrested on Dec. 12. In a statement, the foundation said prison doctors determined her condition could not be managed on site, despite what it said were standing medical recommendations that she be treated by her specialized team in Tehran.
The foundation also said Mohammadi’s transfer was driven by an emergency assessment by prison doctors, and that her family characterized the move as too late for her critical needs. Quoting her family, the foundation said the transfer to a hospital in Zanjan was “a desperate, ‘last-minute’ action that may be too late to address her critical needs.”
Mohammadi’s brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, who lives in Oslo, Norway, said in an audio message shared with The Associated Press by the foundation that the family is “fighting for her life.” He said prosecutors in Zanjan were “blocking everything,” according to the audio message.
The AP report said the foundation traced the immediate deterioration to medical incidents in prison earlier Friday, when Mohammadi had fainted twice in Zanjan. The foundation said she was believed to have suffered a heart attack in late March, based on what her lawyers reported after they visited her a few days after that incident.
The AP also reported that Mohammadi’s lawyers said that on March 24, fellow inmates found her unconscious, and that during a later visit she told them about the incident. Her lawyers said that when she was examined at the prison’s clinic, a doctor told her she probably had had a heart attack, and that she had chest pain and breathing difficulties afterward.
Mohammadi’s legal representative in France, Chirinne Ardakani, said at the time that Mohammadi had been denied transfer to a hospital or a visit with her cardiologist. The AP report also said prison officials were present throughout a brief visit by Mohammadi’s lawyers.
Mohammadi, 53, is a rights lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison. The AP report said she was arrested in December during a visit to Mashhad in eastern Iran and sentenced to seven more years in prison, and that earlier she had been serving a 13-year, nine-month sentence on charges that included collusion against state security and propaganda against the government.
Her family and supporters have previously said her health worsened in prison, including in connection with a beating they said she endured during her arrest. The AP report said the Nobel committee condemned “ongoing life-threatening mistreatment” of Mohammadi in a statement in February.
The AP report said Mohammadi had continued her activism during a furlough after medical concerns in late 2024, including public protests and international media appearances while out of prison. It also reported that in February, a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad sentenced her to an additional seven years, and that courts of that type typically issue verdicts with little or no opportunity for defendants to contest charges.
In her statements on X that were reported by AP, lawyer Mostafa Nili described episodes including severe fluctuations in blood pressure and fainting. The AP report said Nili wrote that a neurologist later ordered Mohammadi’s immediate transfer after she fainted again following initial treatment by a prison doctor with drugs and Mohammadi’s refusal, at first, to be transferred, according to Nili’s account.
This case has unfolded against a backdrop of prior concerns about Mohammadi’s medical access and treatment while detained. MSI previously reported that an AP story described her suspected heart attack and the medical situation surrounding it in late March after it emerged in lawyers’ accounts. The latest report describes another rapid decline in her condition leading to an emergency transfer.
Mohammadi has long been involved in activism connected to protests in Iran, and her Nobel recognition has amplified international attention on her detention. The AP report said her selection enraged hard-line authorities, contributing to increased prison time and, her supporters have said, mistreatment, as she continued to advocate for change from inside and outside prison when medical leave allowed.