Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi released on heavy bail and transferred to Tehran hospital

Iranian authorities have released Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on heavy bail and transferred her by ambulance to a hospital in Tehran for urgent medical treatment. This decision follows escalating warnings from her supporters that she was at risk of dying in prison after suffering two suspected heart attacks while incarcerated in Zanjan.

Mohammadi, who has spent much of the past two decades in and out of prison for campaigning against the clerical system, had been hospitalised in Zanjan for ten days before her transfer. Her foundation stated she was granted a sentence suspension on heavy bail, though the specific amount was not disclosed. She has been moved to Tehran to be treated by her own medical team rather than remaining under constant guard in the northern facility.

Her Paris-based husband, Taghi Rahmani, stated her life is in the balance and warned that a temporary transfer is insufficient if she is returned to prison conditions. He added that Narges must never be returned to the conditions that broke her health. Her lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the transfer to Tehran earlier Sunday following an order halting her sentence for medical treatment.

Reports indicate her condition has been exacerbated by the war between Iran and the US and Israel, with air strikes occurring near her prison location in Zanjan. Supporters noted she suffered a suspected heart attack on 24 March and another on 1 May, leading to her hospitalisation. Her Paris-based lawyer, Chirinne Ardakani, previously described her as unrecognisable from her state before her latest arrest, noting significant weight loss and difficulty speaking.

Although her sentence has been suspended temporarily, her foundation insists she must never return to prison to face the remaining eighteen years of her term. Mohammadi was arrested most recently in December after denouncing the Islamic republic at a funeral for a lawyer, having campaigned against capital punishment and the obligatory headscarf for women.

Her twin teenage children, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, who live and study in Paris, have not seen their mother for over a decade. They received the Nobel Prize on her behalf while she was incarcerated, recognising her decades of campaigning for human rights in Iran.