Iran’s most celebrated prisoner is running out of time. Narges Mohammadi, the 54-year-old human rights activist awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize while behind bars, is reportedly fighting for her life in Zanjan central prison. Re-arrested in December 2025 at a fellow activist’s memorial, she was sentenced in February 2026 to an additional seven and a half years, bringing her cumulative sentences to 44 years, with at least 18 years still to serve and 154 lashes outstanding. She has already spent more than a decade incarcerated and endured 161 days in solitary confinement.

Her legal team reports a suspected heart attack last month, after which she was found unconscious in her cell. Her blood pressure has fluctuated dangerously for days without responding to medication. She has lost nearly 20 kilograms. Cardiologists familiar with her case, including her history of multiple angioplasties and an existing stent, say further intervention must be performed by her own doctors in a fully equipped Tehran hospital. Zanjan’s facilities are deemed inadequate. Her lawyers have sought a one-month medical suspension of her sentence and been denied.

Her Paris-based daughter has counted 138 days of this current detention. Her Oslo-based brother says specialists have been unambiguous: continued imprisonment under these conditions is functionally a death sentence.

 Sources: The Guardian, 29 April 2026; UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), 29 April 2026