To Mr Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei,
The life of Nobel Peace Prize recipient and human rights defender Narges Mohammadi is at critical risk as Iranian authorities, including prosecution officials, subject her to ongoing torture or other ill-treatment in Zanjan prison, Zanjan province, through the deliberate denial of timely and adequate specialized medical care for her serious heart condition. According to informed sources, Narges Mohammadi had a heart attack in prison on 24 March 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 30 March, 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 28 April 2026, adding that she experiences ongoing chest pains and is very unwell. Narges Mohammadi has also lost 20 kgs since her arrest on 12 December 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 13 April 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.
Following Narges Mohammadi’s arbitrary arrest on 12 December 2025 in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, agents subjected her to torture or other ill-treatment, including severe beatings all over her body and head for which she required medical care, according to an informed source. She was then held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre in Mashhad until 10 February 2026, when authorities suddenly transferred her to Zanjan prison without prior notice to her family or lawyers where she remains held in a ward alongside prisoners convicted of violent offences. Since May 2021, Iranian authorities have unjustly convicted and sentenced Narges Mohammadi over 20 years in prison, 154 lashes and other sanctions in eight separate cases stemming from her human rights activism.
I call on you 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. A prompt, independent, effective and impartial investigation into her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be conducted, with those suspected of criminal responsibility brought to justice in fair trials.
Taustatietoa
Prior to her heart attack on 24 March 2026, Zanjan prison officials had been denying Narges Mohammadi adequate medical care, including for ongoing chest pain and blood pressure fluctuations, as well as severe headaches, nausea and double vision which began following the torture or other ill-treatment agents subjected her to following her arrest on 12 December 2025. She was arrested while peacefully exercising her human rights during the memorial ceremony of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi in Mashhad. While detained in a Ministry of Intelligence detention centre 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 Narges Mohammadi to issue written public statements condemning the nationwide uprising in Iran which begun on 28 December 2025; which Narges Mohammadi refused.
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 16 February 2022, Narges Mohammadi suffered a series of heart attacks and underwent emergency heart surgery but was returned to prison on 19 February 2022 against medical advice. On 11 November 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 16 November 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 3 November 2024, Narges Mohammadi’s lawyer reported on X that she suffered from multiple medical conditions requiring ongoing medical follow-up, as emphasized by her doctors. On 4 December 2024, implementation of Narges Mohammadi prison sentence was temporarily suspended with her temporarily released from prison until her arbitrary arrest on 12 December 2025 in Mashhad. She has remained imprisoned since then.
Narges Mohammadi has faced reprisals by the Iranian authorities for her human rights work for nearly 25 years, including repeated unjust prison terms. 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 16 November 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 sentence to a prison term. Most recently, on 8 February 2026, Narges Mohammadi’s 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. On 6 October 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”.
People in Iran, including prisoners, have been trapped between unlawful US and Israeli attacks and deadly domestic repression. Between 28 February and 7 April 2026, the USA and Israel carried out tens of thousands of air strikes on targets across Iran causing grave civilian harm. During the attacks, prisoners’ families and human rights defenders reported to Amnesty International that explosions took place in a number of prisons and facilities holding prisoners, including near Zanjan prison. Both during the attacks and since the fragile ceasefire announced on 7 April 2026, prisoners’ families and human rights defenders have also reported shortages of food, potable water and sanitation products inside prisons. These attacks began while people in Iran were still reeling from the unprecedented massacres of thousands of protesters and bystanders during the January 2026 uprising. In this context, the risks of atrocity crimes against people in Iran have multiplied, perpetrated by the authorities inside the country and from external attacks by US and Israeli forces.