Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Transferred to Tehran Hospital on Bail Suspension

Iranian human rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi has been transferred from jail to a Tehran hospital amid concern over her deteriorating health.

Iranian authorities granted Mohammadi a sentence suspension on heavy bail, a foundation run by her family said Sunday. Last week, her family and supporters warned she could die in prison after suffering two suspected heart attacks earlier this year.

Mohammadi, 54, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and for promoting human rights. After pleas from her family, she is now at Tehran Pars Hospital to be treated by her own medical team, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement.

She had spent 10 days hospitalized in Zanjan in northern Iran, where she had been serving her sentence. Mohammadi's Paris-based husband said over the weekend that she is not in a favorable general condition and her status remains unstable.

The activist has lost about 20kg (three stone) while in prison, has difficulty speaking and is barely recognizable, according to her lawyer Chirinne Ardakani.

In 2021, Mohammadi began serving a 13-year sentence on charges of propaganda activity against the state and collusion against state security, which she denied. In December 2024, she received a temporary release from Tehran's Evin prison on medical grounds.

Mohammadi was arrested last December for making provocative remarks at a memorial ceremony, Iranian authorities said at the time. Her family said she was taken to hospital after being beaten during the arrest.

In early February, a Revolutionary Court sentenced her to an additional seven-and-a-half years in prison after convicting her of gathering and collusion and propaganda activities, her lawyer said.

Last month, Mohammadi's brother Hamidreza said his sister had been found unconscious by fellow inmates at Zanjan prison after suffering a suspected heart attack.

The foundation's Sunday statement said a suspension is not enough and that the human rights activist requires permanent, specialized care. "We must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence," it read.