Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi began a hunger strike on Monday (November 6) after being prevented, along with other detainees, from obtaining medical care and to protest against the compulsory wearing of the veil in Iran , announced the family of the human rights activist.
“Narges Mohammadi informed her family that she had started a hunger strike several hours ago. We are worried about his health,” his relatives informed in a statement cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Ms. Mohammadi, 51, repeatedly arrested and convicted, has been detained since 2021 in Evin prison in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
On Thursday, her family had already announced that the activist, whose state of health is fragile, was being refused transfer to hospital by the prison authorities because she did not want to cover her head. According to an electrocardiogram carried out by a doctor in prison, she needs emergency hospitalization, the family specifies. “The Islamic Republic is responsible for anything that may happen to our beloved Narges,” the statement said.
The Nobel committee, for its part, said in a press release that it was “deeply concerned” about the state of health of Ms. Mohammadi.
“The requirement that detainees wear a headscarf to be hospitalized is inhumane and morally unacceptable,” said committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen, calling on Iranian authorities to provide medical assistance to all detainees in need. .
Free speech organization PEN International said it was “extremely concerned” about Ms Mohammadi and said Iranian authorities were “responsible for putting her life in danger”.
An activist against the death penalty and for women’s rights, Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Prize in October for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight for the promotion of human rights and freedom for all.” . She is one of the main faces of the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in Iran.
