Hospitalized on May 1 after a cardiac arrest in prison, Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, is described as being “between life and death”. Her lawyer in France, Chirinne Ardakani, is calling for her release and transfer to Tehran so that she can be treated in good conditions. She denounces arbitrary detention and medical negligence.

Published on: 06/05/2026 - 15:00

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“We could not forgive ourselves if a Nobel Prize winner died in prison.” Chirinne Ardakani, lawyer in France for Narges Mohammadi, expresses her dismay as the winner of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize finds herself, Wednesday May 6, between life and death.

According to her supporters, the 54-year-old Iranian activist, detained since December in a prison in northern Iran, more than 700 kilometers from her home, was placed in intensive care. Narges Mohammadi was transferred at the beginning of May from her Zanjan prison to a hospital in the region after "two episodes of total loss of consciousness and a heart attack".

Her lawyer and her relatives are demanding her transfer to the doctors following her in Tehran, so that they can examine her as quickly as possible.

Over the past 25 years, Narges Mohammadi has been repeatedly imprisoned for her commitment against the death penalty and the strict dress code imposed on Iranian women. In 2024, she was released due to her state of health, after the removal of a tumor and a bone graft.

Described by those close to her as a force of nature who refuses to be defeated, the human rights defender would be unrecognizable this time. She reportedly lost 20 kilos and had difficulty expressing herself properly.

“Narges Mohammadi was admitted on May 1 […]. She is now on respiratory assistance, she has difficulty breathing,” describes Chirinne Ardakani. Always under surveillance, "including in her hospital room", she remains detained, a security situation which "adds to her anxiety".

Faced with this brutal deterioration in the activist's health, the lawyer says she is "very worried for the life of Narges Mohammadi". The alert is shared by NGOs. For Jonathan Dagher of Reporters Without Borders, she finds herself "between life and death. (...) We must act before it is too late", he insists.

“Medical negligence”

Narges Mohammadi's lawyer in France accuses the Iranian authorities of having knowingly placed the Nobel Peace Prize winner in poor detention conditions and of having delayed in treating her. “She is arbitrarily detained and the medical negligence, the refusal to provide timely care, constitute in international law inhuman and degrading treatment, comparable to torture,” says Mr. Ardakani, who calls for her immediate release.

Since she was transferred to a prison in Zanjan, the activist has reportedly seen her health deteriorate for several months. A deterioration “linked to his conditions of detention since the end of December”, explains the lawyer, who evokes an “extremely harsh” environment. Unlike political prisons like Evin, where prisoners of conscience are found, she is incarcerated in a common law establishment, alongside prisoners convicted of sometimes very heavy sentences and violent acts. Many of these prisoners suffer in particular from addictions, also specifies the lawyer of the Nobel Prize winner.

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“Putting her in this prison is a way of breaking her and isolating her,” believes Chirinne Ardakani. “It’s also about removing it from the gaze of the world.”

“Silence of European diplomacy”

Her two children and her husband, exiled in Paris, have not been able to see Narges Mohammadi for more than ten years. In a statement read at a press conference by her lawyer, her daughter Kiana, 18, denounces the "minimal" care provided to her mother.

For Chirinne Ardakani, the situation is tragically reminiscent of that of other human rights defenders who died in detention, such as Liu Xiaobo in 2017 in China, or Alexeï Navalny in 2024 in Russia.

The war, she explains, has diverted attention from the plight of "freedom fighters like Narges Mohammadi." “All eyes today are on oil prices, the naval battle [in the Strait of Hormuz, Editor’s note], to the detriment of the Iranians and the regime’s repression which continues,” she regrets.

The seriousness of the situation calls, according to Chirinne Ardakani, for a firm political reaction. “We expect a strong position from President Emmanuel Macron.”

“The international treaties to which Iran is a signatory must be respected and it is up to democratic states, if necessary, to enforce them. So we need moral and political condemnation, but we also need sanctions of a legal nature,” asks the lawyer.

She denounces more broadly "the silence of European diplomacy", evoking a "collective bankruptcy" at a time when, according to those close to Narges Mohammadi, every minute counts.

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