Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian in her fifties and the mother of twin grown children, is a longtime activist for human rights and women’s rights, who has been in and out of prison for nearly 25 years. She served as Executive Chair of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, where she was closely associated with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi. The Center was closed by the Iranian government in 2008. Narges Mohammadi also founded and worked for an organization to oppose the death penalty.
Her most recent cases of judicial harassment date back to a May 2021 conviction and sentence of two years and six months in prison related to her peaceful participation, during an earlier period of imprisonment in December 2019, in a sit-in with other prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin prison. They were protesting the unlawful killings of protesters and bystanders during the November 2019 nationwide protests. She was arbitrarily arrested on November 16, 2021 to serve her sentence. Subsequently, she was convicted and sentenced in seven other separate cases on charges all related to her peaceful activism. These include a Revolutionary Court conviction on national security related charges and prison sentences and other sanctions, including floggings, and a criminal court case for which she was sentenced to a prison term. Most recently, on February 8, 2026, Narges Mohammadi informed one of her lawyers that Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad had convicted her of national security related offences and sentenced her to seven years and six months in prison and other sanctions.
The Iranian authorities have repeatedly delayed and/or denied Narges Mohammadi access to adequate healthcare in prison, thereby placing her life at grave risk. For instance, on February 16, 2022, she suffered a series of heart attacks and underwent emergency heart surgery but was returned to prison on February 19, 2022 against medical advice. On November 11, 2023, authorities again blocked her transfer to hospital and conditioned it on her complying with compulsory veiling even though doctors had found fluid around her heart and up to 80% blockage of two arteries requiring angioplasty. She was eventually taken to hospital on November 16 but returned to prison the same day against medical advice. Additionally, according to her family, Narges Mohammadi’s medical reports in July 2024 and September 2024, indicated deterioration in her condition, including that a stent inserted in her artery during emergency heart surgery in February 2022, required replacement due to blockage, which eventually took place in late October 2024. On November 3, 2024, her lawyer reported on X that she suffered from multiple medical conditions requiring ongoing medical follow-up, as emphasized by her doctors. On December 4, 2024, implementation of Narges Mohammadi’s prison sentence was temporarily suspended with her temporarily released from prison.
Narges Mohammadi was arrested on December 12, 2025 while peacefully exercising her human rights during the memorial ceremony of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi in Mashhad. While detained in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center following arrest, Narges Mohammadi became unwell several times, and experienced dizziness, loss of consciousness and falling to the ground – for which she was denied access to adequate health care. According to informed sources, during interrogations in the detention centre, authorities pressured her to issue written public statements condemning the nationwide uprising in Iran which begun on December 28, 2025; which Narges Mohammadi refused. She was detained until February 10, 2026 when authorities suddenly transferred her to Zanjan prison without prior notice to her family or lawyers.
According to informed sources, Narges Mohammadi had a heart attack in prison on March 24, 2026 and was found unconscious in her cell with cold limbs, numbness in her body and her eyes rolled back. Her cellmates took her to the infirmary, where medication was administered, but authorities refused to transfer her to hospital. On March 30, Narges Mohammadi was examined by a cardiologist outside of prison who assessed that medications prescribed by Zanjan prison’s doctor contributed to the heart attack and warned of the risk of a recurrent heart attack. Since then, Narges Mohammadi’s health has rapidly declined according to her family and lawyers, who visited her in prison on April 28, 2026, adding that she experiences ongoing chest pains and is very unwell. Narges Mohammadi has also lost 20 kgs since her arrest on December 12, 2025, with the weight loss accelerating in the last two months, according to an informed source. The Legal Medical Examiner of Zanjan issued an opinion on April 13, 2026 for the temporary suspension of her sentence for one month on medical grounds, but prosecution authorities are refusing release and even to authorize her transfer for treatment in Tehran. According to her lawyers and family, doctors in Zanjan assessed that the lack of specialized and ongoing medical care, only available in Tehran, puts Narges Mohammadi’s life at grave risk.
Amnesty International designated Narges Mohammadi as a Prisoner of Conscience. 15 Iranian parliamentarians have called for her release, urging the Iranian government “to apply the clemency and mercy of the Islamic Republic” and to reunite her with her children. On October 6, 2023, Narges Mohammadi was named the recipient of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.
An open letter by Narges Mohammadi was published online in October 2016, in which she condemned the confirmation of her sentence. She wrote,
I have faith in the path I have chosen, the actions I have taken, as well as my beliefs. I am determined to make human rights a reality [in Iran] and have no regrets. If those who claim to be spreading justice are firm on their judgment against me, I am also firm on my faith and beliefs. I will not waiver under tyrannical punishments that will limit my freedom to the four walls of the prison cell. I will endure this incarceration, but I will never accept it as lawful, human or moral, and I will always speak out against this injustice.
Write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to:
- immediately and unconditionally release Narges Mohammadi as she is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for her human rights activism, and quash her unjust convictions and sentences;
- pending her release, provide her with adequate specialized healthcare, including for treatment unavailable in prison and in Zanjan, and protect her from further torture and other ill-treatment;
- conduct a prompt, independent, effective and impartial investigation into her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, with those suspected of criminal responsibility brought to justice in fair trials.
Send letters to:
Head of judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei
c/o Embassy of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva
Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28
1209 Geneva
Switzerland
AIUSA Group 48 