NArges Mohammadi has dedicated much of his life to advocating for the rights of the people of Iran, including those who languish in the country's prisons without access to proper health care. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is now in a similar predicament, as his life deteriorates within the confines of Iran's notorious prison. Mohammadi's family tells TIME that his deteriorating health is directly related to Iranian prison authorities' withholding of vital medical care—which they describe as a deliberate attempt to “terminate” him.
Mohammadi was finally admitted to hospital this week, after more than two months of pleas, but his family and other advocates say it will not be enough to save him. “Simply being transferred to a hospital will not address the severe problems caused by months of neglect and deprivation,” Mohammadi's family told TIME. “He needs to be given time for treatment to get the full treatment in most cases.”
Mohammadi's most serious health problem involves problems with the main artery of the heart, which was affected in 2022 due to a 75% blockage. His family said repeated requests for medical intervention were repeatedly rejected by officials at Tehran's Evin prison as recently as October 1. No one knows how long Mohammadi will be allowed to stay in the hospital before being returned to Evin, which holds hundreds of political prisoners. and the opposition. Mohammadi is currently serving a sentence of more than 13 years, which last week was extended by six months after he protested the August execution of another inmate.
His family and friends fear that in his current condition, that kind of prison time is tantamount to a death sentence. “They can't just kill him openly in prison, so refusing treatment is a kind of subtle way to push him to death without accepting the responsibility of his death,” his brother, Hamidreza Mohammadi, tells TIME from Oslo, “because if you die of a heart attack, they'll say it's just a heart attack.”
This is not the first time that Iranian authorities have denied Mohammadi medical care. The 52-year-old activist has been in and out of prison since at least 2010, when he was arrested for his association with the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an organization founded by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. Mohammadi was kept in solitary confinement for a month, while his brother claimed he was tortured. He says: “He got sick, they had to take him to the hospital. “They didn't want to let him go but he was in a bad condition. He was almost paralyzed. He couldn't walk.”
While in prison, in 2018, Mohammadi suffered weeks of severe illness and muscle spasms before being transferred to a hospital for treatment, requests his family says were previously denied. Perhaps the biggest threat to his life came in 2022, when he suffered multiple heart attacks before being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery. Three days later, against doctor's advice and before he had fully recovered, he was returned to prison, where he remained for three days before being released from hospital. A month later, he was arrested again and returned to prison, where he remains.
“Narges had planned to return to prison voluntarily at the end of her sick leave, until she publicly announced it on Instagram the night before,” her husband, Iranian journalist and activist Taghi Rahmani, told TIME from Paris, where he lives in exile. and their young twins. “But on the same day, just three hours before he left, the authorities and the security forces raided our house, violently arrested him and took him away.”
Withholding life-saving health care is a feature, not a bug, of Iran's prison system. According to a 2022 report by Amnesty International, deliberate denials and delays in care have resulted in the deaths of at least 96 people in Iranian custody since 2010. for health reasons. Amnesty points out the tendency of prison officials to operate “between a culture of impunity for torture and other torture,” and concludes that this practice is “a deliberate act of cruelty that aims to eradicate it.” [prisoners and their families] the spirit of resistance, punish them for their opposition, or bring about or hasten their downfall.”
Mohammadi's spirit of resistance is clearly still strong. Since the closure of the women's ward at Evin prison, she has organized sit-ins, workshops, and protests against the Iranian government's human rights abuses, some of which have been met with violence by prison guards. He bravely documented the suspicious fire that broke out in Evin prison in 2022 during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest across the country. Mohammadi was still in prison when the Nobel committee announced his prize a year later. His children attended the event on his behalf, and read his letter vowing, “Iranians will eliminate obstacles and corruption through their persistence.” Do not doubt – this is certain.”
For human rights activists, the Nobel prize can act as a shield. It may not work that way in Iran. Ebadi, who won 20 years earlier, wrote about Iranian diplomats plotting to disgrace her marriage. Mohammadi's brother says that, after the event in Oslo, the prison authorities cut off this new benefactor from all contact with his family.
“The regime is upset that an Iranian woman is known for her activism,” he said. “It is also pretending or showing the world that you don't care whether you have won the Nobel Peace Prize or not. They will do whatever they want.”
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