Iranian Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Hospitalized After Two Fainting Episodes, Health Worsens
Al Jazeera
Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has been hospitalized after two fainting spells and a heart crisis, according to her foundation. The 53-year-old was transferred from a prison in Zanjan, northwestern Iran, where she had been held since her arrest in December 2025. Her family says her health has worsened due to beatings during her arrest, as she faces additional prison sentences.
On April 11, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation announced that Iranian human rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi had been transferred from prison to a hospital due to a severe deterioration in her health. She experienced two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a heart crisis.
According to the foundation's statement, the transfer was “unavoidable” after prison doctors determined her condition could not be managed on-site, despite earlier medical recommendations that she needed treatment by a specialist team in Tehran. On the same day, she fainted twice at the prison in Zanjan, northwestern Iran.
Earlier, at the end of March, her lawyers reported that she was believed to have suffered a heart attack. When visiting her a few days after the incident, they found her pale, underweight, and requiring a nurse to assist her with walking.
Mohammadi, 53, was arrested on December 12, 2025, upon arriving in Mashhad, eastern Iran, and has been detained since. In February 2026, she was sentenced to an additional more than seven years in prison, including six years on charges of “assembling and colluding to commit a crime.”
Her family said her health deteriorated in prison, partly due to beatings during her arrest in December, when several men struck and kicked her ribs, head, and neck. The Nobel Committee condemned the “life-threatening mistreatment” she suffered in a statement in February. The Iranian government has not commented on the matter.
Before her arrest in December, Mohammadi was already serving a 13-year and 9-month prison sentence on charges of colluding against state security and spreading propaganda against the Iranian government, but had been released on temporary medical parole since late 2024.
